Related by Blood and NOS
by djaly
Summary: Siblings can be a reason for heart failure. Take the events of 2F2F and my OC Lilly - Brian's 16-year-old sister - and you will find out why - STATUS: COMPLETE -
1. Prelude

Hey guys! I kinda rewrote the movie a little because a friend of mine asked me to, so this story is a Christmas present. Please show some mercy for my English, I'm German an' it's kinda hard not to make any mistakes……..but I'm trying!

Enjoy the story and some reviews would be nice, too!

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Prelude

Brian O'Connor stands in front of the mirror in the middle-sized bathroom, his hands on the sink supporting his upper body. He looks tired and courageless at his reflection and the memory of Dom and him talking for the last time passes his inner eye again and again. He doesn't know what to do.

The door to the bathroom is slowly pushed open and Brian takes a step into the room, taking the knob and pulling it. A young girl comes into the room, her light blue eyes somehow shining. The man regards her curiously due to her carrying two small bags in her hands, a black and a blue one. She smiles at him and starts packing some items like toothbrushes, Brian's aftershave and shampoo into the bags.

After closing the zippers of their luggage, the girl turns around and receives a bearhug from Brian, caressing her shoulderblade long dark blond hair that is slightly curled and had been dyed into a lighter blond like his own. He kisses her forehead, while she's rubbing the sides of his ribcage. They take the bags and leave the room, all that's remaining is Brian's police mark.

A car can be seen how it's driven away.

Several police officers are sitting in a small room at new-looking desks. Each of them gets a black and white copy of two photos: one's showing a man's face, who must be around 24 or 25, and the other one a smiling young girl somewhere around 16. One of the younger officers shakes is head in disbelief.

A yellow-painted house is surrounded by several police cars and some of the officers go inside, their guns in their hands. They find nothing but a deserted house.

Two cars drive side by side, while a small group of people is cheering next to the road. One crosses a line that's been painted on the asphalt just a little before the other one.

Money is given into a man's hand and the drivers shake hands. Brian smiles, while the young girl hopps into the driver's seat and gives him an "are you coming" – look. He closes the door and gets a kiss on his cheek from her. She starts the engine and they drive away.

Every now and then a flash of light crosses Brian's face and he looks at the teenager on the passenger's seat. She is curled up into her seat and sleeping. The clock shows that it's 2 a.m.. He sighs and focuses back on the road.

A small and cheap diner. She's ordering for them, while he flirts with some woman on the table opposite to theirs. The girl goes to the toilet, leaving Brian who's reading the paper. He puts it down after having seen their pictures, hiding his face behind his hands. Thanks to Murphy's Law, there are two police officers coming into the diner. Brian grabs the black and the blue bag and leaves.

He's waiting outside the bathrooms. The girl comes out and curses as she sees the officers checking out their car. She takes her bag from Brian and they walk away.

She's poking his ribs and he's grabbing her waist, lifting her off the ground. She scowls because she doesn't like being smaller than him. She is merely able to look at his shoulder whenever she doesn't wear high heels and she does it close to never. 

A cabriolet stops next to them. The driver is the woman from the diner. The girl takes one of the seats in the back and Brian the passenger's one.

The cabriolet stops at a car-shop and they get out. They thank the woman and Brian discovers a paper on the passenger's seat, showing the pictures of him and the girl. The woman simply smiles and drives back onto the road.

They're walking through the lines of cars and the salesclerk shows them a few cars, but none of them pleases their standards. Suddenly, the girl points at a car standing more in the backyard and Brian nods at her, smiling. He pays for the car and they hit the asphalt once more.

Brian casts a look over to the girl on the pasenger's seat and regards the picture she's drawing. It's one of their current car with another design. A great design. Silver and different shades of blue, nothing too complicated, but definitly great. She signs right beneath the back tire. Lilly.

Brian's wearing a green overall and working on the engine of the car.

Lilly puts a blue mask over her nose and mouth, before she starts with the spraying.

Brian pays a man and gets into the car. Lilly is driving.

Again a race. Brian kisses Lilly's forehead. She gets the money she has won and they climb into their car again.

Two road signs. Miami or New York. They look at each other and nod. Miami.

The sea is blue and the sun's shining. Brian stops at a traffic light. He checks out the women who're walking by. Lilly shakes her head no and chuckles a little. Suddenly, her eyes widen and she smacks Brian's biceps to get his attention. He smiles as he sees the two cars Lilly pointed her index finger at. No ordinary driver would paint his car like that. Racers.

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2 be continued……..?

I'll let you decide whether yes or not.

Merry Christmas!!!  


	2. An Ordinary Friday

A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

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An Ordinary Friday

_Beep Beep Beep_

Lilly O'Connor turned over in her bed that seemed to be the nicest and cuddliest place in the world……… she didn't want to get up. A slight smile settled on her lips.

_When do I ever want to get up?_

_Beep Beep Beep_

She groaned while pulling the cover over her ears. 

_Beep Beep Beep_

"Oh, shut up!" She raised her left arm with all the power she was able to gather in it and hit the tiny bottom on her alarm clock. The noise stopped and the small room was silent once more.

The girl sat up in her bed, wearing nothing but an over-sized sleeveless blue shirt and some gray boxers. Her long blond hair was all tousled and gleamed in the light of the morning sun which was coming straight through the only window of her room. 

She knew why she had chosen this room out of the three which their apartment offered. It was all due to Brian having to race at night to get some money in, so that he needed to sleep during daytime. Lilly knew all of her brother's habits. She knew how he shaved, how he ate his breakfast, how he drove and, of course, how he slept. 

If Brian felt comfortable and safe, he would sleep like a rock, no noise would be able to wake him up, but there were few things which still could, like light for example. So when they had moved in, Lilly had made sure that her brother had taken the room with the window that was directed south-west, so that the rays of sunlight wouldn't reach and wake him before the early afternoon.

"I hate getting up, I hate getting up", Lilly murmured in a sing-song voice while leaving the warmth of her bed, walking over the wooden floor to her wardrobe. After having opened it, she grabbed a pair of worn-out blue jeans that were ripped and drove her brother insane because of that. _I just don't want you to………………get cold, that's all, _he had said when seeing her wearing them for the first time. She could still laugh over his choice of words. As if you could get cold in Miami, typical 'brother must protect little sister'- ,or how Lilly called it, big bro- mode.

Actually, it hadn't been her idea to rip them but Tej's. Working for him as a sprayer, she had once slipped on some oil and scratched her leg. The wound hadn't been very deep but nevertheless, it had bled and her jeans had been teared. Suki had seen it and demanded to clean the wound. They had gone into the tiny washroom, while Lilly's jeans had been left outside where they could dry out. So when the girls had been coming back from the washroom, they had found nothing but a pair of totally ripped jeans and Tej who was about to put some scissors back into one of the drawers in the small office.

"Hey, I just want my number one sprayer to look as great as her designs", he had tried to defend himself, but in the end, he had taken advantage of Lilly not being able to be mad at anybody for a long time. 

After having showered, the teenager dried her hair and got dressed.White socks, black panties, ripped jeans, black bra, and a black sleeveless shirt that was **way** too tight in her brother's opinion.

She made her way into the small kitchen, opened the door of the fridge, took out the apple juice and poured the liquid into a glass. Looking out of the window of their kitchen, Lilly took another sip from her glass and enjoyed the sight of a cloudless sky and a city that was slowly waking up by now. 

They had moved into the apartment a few months ago, after having gotten faked papers, of course. Brian had insisted on her going to school and getting a life that was as ordinary as possible. Now, the name which stood on their bills was Masterson and Brian's first name had been changed into Jesse, in memory of their lost friend. In peaceful moments like this, Lilly would always think of him and his nervous babbling about cars and everything that went with them, it had been his way of flirting, Letty had told her. The girl missed the old gang and often caught herself wondering, where they might be.

"Stop brooding girl, it's too early for that." 

Lilly took the last remaining sip of her juice and put the glass into the sink. She then grabbed a pencil and a sheet of paper from the memo pad that laid in one corner of their kitchen, right next to the phone, to write down what needed to be bought.

"Hmmm, let's see…….milk, margarine, raspberry or strawberry jam, some water……..oh, eggs! We need eggs. What else? Yeah, things for dinner. Peas, carrots and corn mixed up with rice and, of course, one, no, better two cups of cream. Yummy! Some turkey or chicken and…………pasta! We didn't have any pasta for over two weeks by now. So pasta and………think, think, think………lasagne, some meat and some granola for Brian………hmmm, sugar, too. Bananas and strawberries, he likes mixing them with his granola. Anything forgotten? Apples and maybe pears. That's enough, I guess."

She folded the paper and put it into her pocket, before taking another sheet and beginning to write again.

_Dear Bro,_

_GOOD EARLY AFTERNOON!!!_

_Time to get up and smile!_

_Stop scowling at me, I'm not the one who sleeps until 2 p.m.. Okay, I'm also not the one who drives races in the evening and celebrates his victories till deep into the night, but that's only because somebody won't let me. But I don't wanna argue right now, you've just woken up so your brain doesn't work all that well and it wouldn't be any fun beating you. I'm just telling you that I'll go fetch a few things after school. We really do need some food!_

_Oh, you're snoring!_

_Love you, *kiss on your unshaven cheek*_

_Lilly_

The girl put the pencil back at its place and sneaked into her brother's room as silent as possible. The room was dark because of the curtens which were shut, but she could see Brian lying on his back, all sprawled over the bed with his cover not even covering half of his body. Lilly smiled and was careful not to wake her big brother, he was too cute when he slept. She put the letter on his nightstand next to a small lamp and left the room silently. While putting on her pair of white sneakers, which had become slightly gray during the last six months, she hobbled into te bathroom and started brushing her teeth and afterwards her hair. 

Her school wasn't that far away from their apartment, she merely needed twenty minutes if she walked slowly but that didn't change the fact that it was **school**. Heading for a green apple from the dish in the kitchen, Lilly took her black "Fishbone" bag over her shoulder and picked up a sheet of paper that sailed down to the floor. It was a letter from Brian. Opening the door of their apartment, and shutting it right behind her back, she went down the few stairs and was out on the streets in no time. From outside, she looked up to their kitchen window and Brian's with the shut curtens. They lived on the third floor of a ten-floor building, including an underground garage, where Brian's most loved toy was sleeping right now.

After having crossed a traffic light, she started reading the letter in her hand.

_Good morning honey,_

_Did you know that you look cute when you're sleeping? Well, you do. I hope you had some nice dreams, while I've been winning a couple of thousands, so that we will be able to survive for several months. I wish you lots of fun at school – you can't kill me, you need me as your legal guardian, remember? – and want you to know that I love you._

_Hug you,_

_Brian_

"Ya know, big bro", Lilly sighed smiling,"I can't help it, but I love you, too."

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Finally, the bell rang and a sigh of relief filled the classroom. It was weekend. No school for two days. Two nights of racing and parties for Lilly because Brian didn't allow her to go when there was school the next day. Typical big bro-mode. 

The girl went out of the door, right behind three of the cheerleaders, who were talking about the big difference between wearing a light blue blouse together with an orange or a red skirt. Of course, the sprayer could have told them that orange would appear a lot stronger, if they wore it with blue due to these two colours forming the greatest contrast, it was basic knowlegde for every painter, but she wasn't interested in giving fashion tips. 

"Hey", a dark-haired head appeared in her sight and brown eyes twinkled. 

"'S up, Crash?" Lilly saw her friend glaring at her. He did so not like this nickname she had given him when they had first met. Actually, his name was Shane and he was Suki's younger half-brother from their father's second marriage, but you couldn't see much of his Asian heritage until you looked at him for a really long time. On their first meeting at Tej's garage, Shane had sat in Suki's brand new Honda S2000 and accidently taken the reverse, so that this beautiful car had crashed into the nearest wall. That's why Lilly called him "Crash" and Shane didn't like being reminded of  his own stupidity

"Nothin' special, but did ya hear _The one and only_ talking 'bout comin' tonight?" Shane liked the fact that he wasn't a loner anymore. Of course, he had several friends and even few groupies due to him being a quite successful member of the swimming-team, but he had never had anyone before who actually **knew** about cars and racing, so Lilly and he had become best friends soon after her arrival. _The one and only_, also known as Mike Anders, was the captain of their football-team and the perfect stereotype as well. He was arrogant,unfortunately good-looking, every girl that was either a cheerleader or somebody _strange _who wished to be cool was in love with him, his parents were rich and he wasn't the brightest person alive, but he was the team-captain, so everybody loved him, with a few exceptions, of course. 

"Yer kiddin', right? Cause this is, like, not funny", Lilly blinked several times. It had to be a lie that _The one and only_ wanted to take part in a race, though, seeing him lose would be quite amusing.

"No kidding. He was sitting behind me last lesson and being _The one and only_ ,he told his friends that he would be racing tonight and that all the hot babes would fall for him as soon as he got out of his new car and this and that and bla bla bla", Shane and Lilly rolled their eyes skywards and sighed. "But you haven't heard the best part yet. He meant that he would have connections to the one who runs all of the races that they would be like brothers, so I started thinking, like, Tej would never ever make friends with _The one and only_. Then, Mike became all mysterious and said that they shouldn't tell everybody his buddy's name. Believe me, Lil, he actually told them that **T.J.** would be such a great guy and all cool and easy, while I had to suppress my laughter!"

The blond girl started laughing, she couldn't keep a straight face at this. _The one and only_ seeing himself winnig against professionel racers was funny enough, but him calling Tej T.J. was the joke of the year. Tears came into her eyes and the people around them looked somewhat strangely at Shane and her, but she didn't care.

"I have to see this, Crash", she gasped for air,"I could never survive the idea of me missing the face of _The one and only _having just lost his first race. We have to be there tonight!"

"Well, Suki's in one of the first groups, so I'll be there from the beginning. How 'bout Brian?"

"Dunno, but we won't be coming that late, I guess. Just make sure that _The one and only _is there, will ya?"

"No prob", Shane's eyes focused on something that was standing right on the street in front of the school. It was a car and Mike Anders was proudly leaning against its side while being surrounded by half the football-team and several cheerleaders. 

"Seems like our lucky boy has just gotten a new toy from Daddy", Lilly whispered as she checked the car with trained eyes. A '97 Renault Spider, not bad if tuned correctly, but she doubted that Mike was bright enough to do so. The car seemed to be second-hand, though, Lilly saw the scratches on the hubcaps and it appeared to her, as if there was a slight dent in the right door and the design………… she shook her head no, this wasn't a design, this was pure rape. She wondered, if Anders had done the spraying himself or a four-year-old child. The main colour was a bad mixture between peach and cherry, the car looked like it was patched and there were bizarre brown and gray ornaments on the hood and heck which were possibly meant to be lightnings or something.

"Ya know", Shane crossed his arms,"it's fucking unfair that he gets such a car!"

"Whom are ya talking to? But I don't think that he's able to beat somebody with it. Bet, he's gotten a non-tuned version, so he can't get more than 140 or 170 out of it and I don't' think that he knows 'bout Noz either", the girl shook her head again. She could use a car like that, Mike Anders didn't have the proper knowledge how to treat such treasure correctly. 

"And his **design** is pure torture", the boy, who was half a head taller than her, smiled.

"Oh, I completely fortgot!" Lilly opened her bag and searched for something, while Shane couldn't take his eyes off the Renault. Finally, the girl got his attention by waving a few sheets of paper in front of his face. He took them and looked at  the cars that were drawn on them. Well, actually, it was just one car, Suki's Honda, but with different designs.

"Could you give them to yer sis', please? She wanted somethin' new for her baby, but wasn't quite sure what exactly, so I've done more than one. Tell her to look them through, so that she can tell me tonight, if she likes one or wants any different colours or anything else, okay?"

"Sure", he put the papers in his backpack and the two walked down the few stairs in front of the school, not being able to avoid _The one and only_ and his little community. The captain smiled his arrogant "look at the losers"-smile and the two friends could already foresee the unavoidable.

"Like my new car?" The self-announced king of the Highschool asked in his usual vain attitude.

Lilly regarded him with a raised eyebrow. She really did not like this guy, but she still remembered her first day at this school and how he had tried to flirt with her, he never fully recovered from the fact that she had ignored him and had eaten lunch together with Shane instead, whom she had already met the weekend before at Tej's. So on every possible occasion, _The one and only_ tried to show off with his coolness and his popularity just to make Lilly regret her choice of friends.

She heard Shane snort and wanted to prove her friend that she had been right about Mike's knowledge of racers.

"So tell me: how much Noz flows in your veins?"She stifled the snicker that built up in her stomach when she saw blank faces looking at her, while Shane was about to burst out in laughter. Lilly grabbed his arm and turned them to leave and after having gone several yards, they heard _The one and only_'s voice calling after them.

"Hey! Wait a minute! What do ya know about Noz?!Hey!"

But they didn't stop. They walked straight ahead over the street and laughed.

"Let me tell you, he doesn't even know a damn thing about tuning or Noz!"Lilly laughed and Shane wiped away a tiny tear from his right eye. He had to go into another direction.

"See ya tonight, Lil?"

"See ya tonight, Crash."

Each of them went his own way home, but after the next corner, Lilly stopped when an all too familiar '01 Nissan Skyline appeared in her sight with a grinning Brian O'Connor sitting in it.

"You couldn't have picked me up directly?"She plopped down on the passenger's seat and fastened her seat belt, while giving her brother a kiss on his left cheek and receiving a hair ruffling from him.

"Hello big bro', it's really nice of you to pick me up, otherwise I would have had to walk the whole way. By the way, your letter was sweet and I love you, too, because you're the best big brother in the whole wide world", Brian's eyes gleamed as he waited for his sister's answer.

"When you're quite done", Lilly stuck her tongue out at him and they laughed, while Brian started the engine. Suddenly, a thought occurred to her mind and the girl eyed her brother somewhat unsure. "No kidding, bro, it's really cool to pick me up, but you don't have to drive me to work, ya know?"

"Oh, that", Brian stopped at a red traffic light,"did I forget to tell you? You're off for today. The guy whose car ya should do has crashed into a wall yesterday evening, he's fine but his car will need few days to be repaired."

"No work? I'm totally pleased with no work, but I'm sorry for Jimmy. Bet he's fixing the damage right now."

"It's his job and he has fun doing it", the man shrugged,"so, how about we go shopping? I remember a letter in which it was mentioned that we needed food."

"Yup", Lilly sat back in her seat and stretched her arms and legs a little,"still got the list in my pocket."

"Wonder it didn't get lost in these jeans. Ya should neither wear them nor the shirt anymore, ya seem to feel uncomfortable in them."

_Here we go again,_ Lilly thought to herself. "But I don't feel uncomfortable, bro. I'm fine. We already talked about this, remember?"

"Yeah, but you haven't listened to me correctly, if you're still wearing these things."

The traffic light went green and Brian turned the car to the left, still arguing with his sister about her clothes……………

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Please review because I tried **really** hard to write this chapter as good as possible!!!

Hope you had fun reading it!!                 


	3. Friday Evening

First chapter that's going to be written in this year, hope it'll become a good one. First, I wanna thank you for all the reviews, you encourage me to go on and that makes me very happy. Second, the weather in the north of Germany is shit. It's an ick mixture between snow, ice and rain. I hate it!! Third, some basic informations to the story:

I already changed Brian's car from a Toyota into a Nissan. I looked it up and saw that I made a mistake there and that Brian drives, at least at the beginning of 2F2F, an '01 Nissan Skyline. I'm sorry for not checking out on my sources of information. And I thought it would help you to have some basic information about Lilly, so, there you go.

Age: 16 years and 3 months.

Height: 5'7 ( I know, I wrote in "Prelude" that she'd be able to look at

             Brian's chin but I already changed that into shoulder).

Hair: The colour is a little lighter than her brother's. In "Prelude" it was

         just long enough to cover her shoulder blades but during the few months which passed

         between "Prelude" and "An Ordinary Friday" it has grown and is down to Lilly's waist

         now. Of course, it's slightly curled.

Weight: Somewhere around 120 and 125 pounds.

Eyes: Light blue.

As four the rest, you'll have to read the story to find out more about her.

Friday Evening

Every now and then, Brian O'Connor would look over to his little sister doing her homework, while he was reading the paper. They sat in their living-room, listening to one of the local radio stations. The routine had settled soon after their arrival in Miami. He would race at night and come home, when Lilly was already asleep, while she would leave the apartment in the morning and go to school. After school, she would work at Tej's and come home at six or seven, so they had a few hours in the evening together, unless there was no race that day or Lilly was off of work. Of course, there were several rules, but they had no problems getting along with each other.

Brian had become his sister's legal guardian a few years ago, when he had turned 21. Their mother had left them rather early, she and their father, an alcoholic, had always argued and yelled at each other. Brian had been 16 and Lilly barely 6 and due to their father's _friendship with alcohol_, they had been pretty much forced to take care of themselves. Being the older brother, Brian had tried very hard to assure his little sister that everything was okay, but Lilly, being the smart girl she still was, had soon figured out what had been going on and had promised her brother that she would be a good kid. The first time had been rough but the siblings had quickly learned that working together could make everything somehow easier but then, Brian had decided to go to the police and it had all gone to hell. Only few weeks after the young man had started with his training, he had received a call from a hospital close to the neighbourhood his family had lived in. He had left the police station as fast as possible and while opening the door of his car, he had caught the sight of an angry and probably drunk man who had been escorted inside the building by several officers. His father. He hadn't cared and driven to the hospital his younger sister had been lying in. She had been beaten up and had been all black and blue and purple when Brian had seen her for the first time.

Their father had gotten into jail. Child abuse. Brian hadn't been allowed to become Lilly's legal guardian because he had been 19. She had come into a foster family and they had often visited each other, but that hadn't been the same like living together. So when Brian's 21st birthday had finally come, they had promised each other that they would never be separated again and everything had worked out well since then. They never yelled at each other, they never broke any promises, they would never lie to each other and if there was a problem, they would solve it together.

The only problem were major arguments, because both of them were rather stubborn and wouldn't give up that easily, so that it had once happened that they hadn't been talking to each other for nearly two weeks, but major arguments were rare and teasing the other one was a lot more fun.

"I'm done",Lilly stated and rose from the pillow she had laid down on the floor, a smile plastered on her lips.

"Ya sure?" He received a glare and put his hands up innocently."I was just asking!"

"You better were", the girl sat down next to her brother pulling her into his lap, taking the few papers from her hand and regarded them thoroughly.

"Biology, History, Mathematics and French", she explained him and hoped that Brian was pleased, otherwise, rule number 7 would be used: no proper homework, no races, but the slight nod from her brother told Lilly that she could be relieved.

"Seems to be okay and we still have some time left before the first race will start", he looked down at her,"how about dinner, now, that we've got somethin' to eat?"

"Dinner sounds good", she managed to leave her brother's lap in no time and was already in the kitchen, before Brian could have counted to ten,"I cook and you do the dishes."

"No fair", the ex-cop exclaimed and joined his younger sibling in the kitchen,"it's not even my turn and I have to save my energy for tonight's race."

"Well, the world's unfair, I guess", Lilly's eyes gleamed in a ironical _"I'm oh so sorry"_-way, as she stuck out the tip of her tongue and grinned. Before knowing what was happening, her brother tackled her playfully and started tickling her, while lifting her off the ground. Lilly laughed, demanded to be let down and tried to get a grip on her older brother, but he was holding her from behind and that didn't make it any easier for her.

"Who's doing the dishes?" Brian's voice was filled with laughter and he stopped his fingers movements to let his little sister get some air, though still holding her tight enough to make it impossible for her to get away.

"We're doin' it together an' I promise you not to beg ya to let me drive, until we arrive at the race, okay?" The girl gasped for air and leaned back against her brother, being happy that she had solid ground under her feet again.

_Oh well,_ Brian thought, knowing his sister all too well, _it's the best offer I'll get out of her anyway and if she doesn't drive tonight, I will let her have some fun tomorrow………maybe._

"Alright", he let go off her and ruffled her long hair,"and I get to decide what we eat."

"Spaghetti Carbonara", she winked at him,"never forget: I've been growing up with you."

"Pass me the pot already",he grinned. It were these short amounts of time that reminded him of the good sides of being and having a family.

"You couldn't have changed your clothes?"

Lilly sighed. "Concentrate on the road, will ya?"

"I do, but the holes in your jeans are quite distracting. I'm worried 'bout your health, you could…….."

"Get cold", she finished for him and watched an older BMW passing by. It was 11p.m. and the nightlife of Miami and the fact that it was Friday didn't make the streets any emptier. A race on a busy street was a lot more fun, Lilly could tell from her own experience, she would never dare confessing this to Brian though.

"When are ya starting an' with whom?" The blond girl turned her head to the side to get a better view on her older brother and waited for him to answer her questions.

"Third group. Vittorio, some guy called John and a baby", Brian said in a matter-of-fact voice while watching his sister. There was something in her eyes that could either mean lots of craving to drive or lots of enthusiasm for him to win, maybe it was both. It was his fault that she was just as addicted to cars as he himself was, both of them needed the rush of adrenaline in their veins and the feeling of being totally free due to their childhood, but Brian found himself often torn in two. On the one hand, he felt guilty for having brought his sister into the world of racers because of the danger that she could get hurt or even killed in an accident, but on the other hand, he was happy about them sharing this and proud of her being a great driver. She acted on pure instinct when she was sitting behind a steering wheel and she never lost or ruined the Nissan like another younger sibling had done it with a certain Honda a few months ago.

"Why are ya grinning?" He heard the curiosity in her voice and took another gear while looking at her.

"Just thought about Suki's brother and his driving skills."

"He so hates being reminded of that but you're right, Jimmy and I are still asking Suki whenever she brings her baby to be repaired, if Crash has recently sat in it. Believe me bro, I'd never ever dare doing this to you. It would be way too embarrassing for the both of us", Lilly leaned back in her seat and she could already feel the excitement building up in her stomach by the thought of roaring engines, cheering and cursing people and , of course, this certain smell of oil and gas lying thick in the air.

"How much you got with you?" The young man questioned while overtaking a Toyota. He didn't want his sister to bet but he was doing it himself, so he wasn't the one who could actually forbid her to do it.

"Two thousand but Tej still has to give me the cash I won yesterday, so I've got a total of twelve thousand", the teenager didn't dare looking at her brother right now, instead, she focused on the empty sidewalk to her left.

"What do ya mean _you won yesterday_ ?" And another Toyota was left behind.

"Well, yesterday, some friend of Daniel, who was in your group, came into the garage and I couldn't stand his attitude, ya know, _Daniel is the best, nobody has a chance against him, he will win and ta ta ta_. So I took the money I had just………..with me and we made a bet. Tej played bank and because of him not seeing me the whole day, he'll give me my money now, I guess", Lilly hoped that her brother's cop-mode wouldn't kick in because she really wasn't in the mood for an interrogation right now. But her older sibling seemed to take the news rather well and checked his watch.

"You should have enough by now, shouldn't you?" Brian knew that his little sister had been saving for an own car since she was able to count and he would never be so cruel and say "no", if she found the right vehicle. _Would you rather me getting pregnant and having a real baby? No? End of topic._ But she hadn't found it yet. _I have to see it and I have to want it immediately otherwise, it wouldn't really feel like **mine** afterwards, you know?_ Once Brian had offered her to win a '92 Mazda for her, a good car which merely needed a proper tuning and spraying, but Lilly hadn't wanted it._ You probably are the coolest big bro in the world and I might regret this later on, but no. I mean, this is going to be my car and I need the feeling that **I** own this car because of something **I** have done, you understand that, don't you? No being mad or sad,' kay? You know how much I hate the knowledge that I owe somebody something without being able to return it. C'mon, I wanna hug you._ He was proud of his sister, she was just right the way she was, though her stubborness could make him nuts at times.

"Money, yes, car, no, but I still believe in miracles, so it's possible that I'll find my baby tonight", the road was almost completely empty by now and Lilly had already seen one of the "Road closed"-signs. It was time for the itching in her fingers to start and the feeling in her stomach had spreat in her whole body. She wanted to drive, madly. _I really do need a car! Even The One and Only has one. Hope, he's there. What did Brian say 'bout a baby being in his group? My big bro beating The One and Only, a dream comin' true, though I suppose that our hero will start later, these races aren't 'bout much money and if the cops come, they won't even start. Oh how I wish that he screws it up! Or maybe he isn't able to bring up the money. The minimum is a thousand per driver and there are only three ways you can pay for a race, the three Cs: you pay cash or with your car and if that's not possible, well, you'll pay with  cracked bones, instead. Bet that he doesn't even know the rules, I'm **so** sorry for him._

They had already arrived at the party and Brian drove a little slower to get his car through the crowd of people, who sometimes jumped when he let some gas coming out of the small openings above the front tires. Brian O'Connor knew exactly where his place was: not far away from the starting line.

"You're just greedy for attention",Lilly muttered and she could see Tej waving them over to him.

Her brother simply smiled.

"'ey, Bullitt's 'ere", Mike Anders heard somebody saying and he immediately tried to locate one of the guys he would be driving against. He had already checked on the other ones and now that he saw this _Bullitt_, he was sure that he would win his first race. They were all losers. He was the best in football and he was the best behind a steering wheel. He couldn't understand why everybody thought of this jerk as a god or something. But all of the sudden, Mike felt surprised when he saw Lilly Masterson getting out of _Bullitt's car_.

Did you like it? Please tell me that you liked reading it, okay? Thank you!!

(Who hates Mike Anders? We hate Mike Anders!!)              


	4. Tension

School starts again and I do so not wanna go there. Thanks for all the reviews, they're a positive distraction!

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Tension

"Bullitt and Chica",Tej grinned at the siblings after they had gotten out of Brian's Nissan and shook hands with the blond man, while Lilly received a hug,"I knew there was something I have to give ya, Chica", and he gave her the money she had told Brian about.

"Thanks, boss", Lilly took the bills and put them into her pocket, already scanning the cheering crowd for Crash and _The One and Only_. Of course, the people's enthusiasm had only grown with Brian's arrival due to her brother being the best driver in Miami, next to her, and that didn't make it any easier to locate two teenage boys between them. So she walked behind Tej towards Suki and Jimmy standing next to their cars, where Brian was already hugging Suki and getting a "hello"-kiss. 

"Hey guys", she greeted her friends, still searching for any sign of Crash, he had promised to come, after all. Suddenly, Lilly felt herself embraced and she saw Suki's happy face.

"Thank you for the designs, Chica. They're all fantastic", the young woman let go off her before taking the girl's hand and pulling her next to her car, where Suki had laid the sheets of paper. She searched for the one with the black and white Honda and her smile became even bigger. "I'd like to have this one", she said and Lilly regarded the design once more. The basic colour was white and there was a black cartoon dragon of which the head was on the bonnet and the body on the left side, while the Japanese characters for beauty, freedom and love were on the right side.

"'Kay", Lilly shrugged,"I can start tomorrow, I guess, but with school and all I'm not sure how long it's going to take."

"That's not important", Suki straightened her top, looking over to where Jimmy, Tej and Brian were talking,"just think of your bro if he found out that you're lacking in school. I don't wanna be the reason for you being grounded or something."

"Two more weeks and I've got holidays", the blond told her friend,"means that I can spend as much time at Tej's as I want."

They shared a laugh and were about to go over to the others, but somebody grabbed Lilly's arm.

"Hey, Lil", the sixteen-year-old boy grinned at her.

"Crash!" Lilly poked into her best friend's ribcage."Where've ya been the whole time?"

"Surprise. C'mon", Shane grabbed her hands and pulled her with him into the crowd of people, while Suki shook her head in disbelief.

"One of these days, I have to teach my lil' bro how to treat a girl in the correct manner", she then walked over to the guys. As soon as the young woman had arrived, she had to face a Brian O'Connor who was in full cop-mode.

"Where did they go?" He asked Suki and his tone of voice made sure that he wouldn't accept an "I don't know", but Suki didn't know what else to say.

"I don't know, Shane said he had a surprise for her and then they left."

"What kind of surprise?"

"C'mon Bullitt", Tej laid a hand on his buddy's shoulder,"ya know that they're just friends. Don't be worried 'bout Chica. She can take good care of herself and Suki's bro is a clever one, he would never dare pissing **you **off."

"You're probably right", Brian wasn't convinced by Tej's words though. It wasn't that he didn't trust his little sister, but he didn't trust any men or teenage boys who showed interest in his baby. She was barely 16 and _way_ too young to……….he didn't even want to think about that.

"Ladies and Gentlemen",Tej raised his arms high into the air to get everybody's attention and almost immediatley, the crowd was silent. A grin crossed the young man's face. He really did rule the underground races. "It's time for the party to start! First group at the starting line in 45 seconds!"

************************

The people around them went almost insane after Tej's announcement, but Shane and Lilly were already used to all of this. For them, it felt like being home and all of these people were like family because they were thinking the same way the teenagers did. Everything was about cars. Racing was living, if you lost, you lost, if you won, you won, it didn't matter as long as you were sitting inside a car and driving it.

"Are we there, yet?"Lilly asked in a whining voice while Shane was still holding her by the hand and somehow managing it that they didn't bump into anyone.

"Wait a sec", Shane told her and looked around. His eyes widened and he pointed at some place right within the crowd,"there."

Lilly's eyes focused on "there" and an amused grin was suddenly plastered on her lips. "There" he was: Mike Anders, _The One and Only_, standing close to his car and he was surrounded by a few of the younger girls who were always coming to the races because of them hoping to get to know one of the drivers. Lilly couldn't understand why they had chosen _The One and Only_, though, but that wasn't important right now. _The One and Only _was actually here and he would get the beating of his life !

"He's in the third", Shane said and jumped, when Lilly hugged him tight and whooped and bounced. Not that it wasn't a nice feeling to get hugged tight by Lilly while she was bouncing up and down, but the boy couldn't understand her excitement.

"That's Brian's group!" The girl couldn't believe it: _The One and Only_ beaten by her big brother! Prizeless! She was too happy to realize that the first race had already started and so, her whooping wasn't all that conspicuous………well, almost, because while being distracted, the boy and the girl hadn't noticed Mike Anders coming over.

"Look who's here", the team-captain sneered and put his hands into the pockets of his football jacket,"wanna see how real drivers handle their cars?"

"Thank you, but I've already looked into a mirror while driving", Lilly answered and she enjoyed the sight of Mike Anders' face showing his rage for merely a second before disappearing again. Shane snickered and a "So have I" came from his lips.

"Where is your car then?" He asked the blond girl and received nothing but a glare. How he loved being himself! Of course, these losers didn't have their own cars. They were simply jealous because he was the best and the best was always envied the most. Mike thought of them as nothing but stupid, especially Lilly who had been silly enough to ignore him. Tonight, she would regret having chosen _Swim-Shane_ as a friend, because tonight, Mike Anders would win the race and show _Chica_, how everybody called her, what being popular meant. He had already found out that this _Bullitt_ was Lilly's older brother and that he won every race he participated in, but this would change in not even half an hour.

"Close to the starting line, where else?" A new voice said calmly and the teenagers turned their heads to see Brian approaching them. _Big bro-mode_, Lilly thought once she saw the cold and harshness in her brother's eyes while he looked at Mike who seemed to have frozen in place. Well, at least for a few seconds, he then shook his head and wore his cocky grin again.

"Lilly? A driver? As in driving races? Yeah right, man", Mike snorted and found himself rather amused. The idea of a girl being able to drive properly was quite funny, but the idea of a girl being able to drive and win a race was ridiculous. 

"You got a problem with that?" Brian narrowed his eyes. Nobody insulted his little sister or her skills, nobody. 

"It's okay, bro", Lilly laid a hand on her brother's arm,"he's not worth the energy." She turned to Shane, who had been smart enough not to interfere,"when does Suki start?"

"Second group", the boy answered quickly, knowing that his best friend tried to separate her brother and _The One and Only_ before something would happen.

"C'mon, bro", she tugged at Brian's black shirt and pulled him into the direction of the starting line with Shane close behind,"I don't wanna miss Suki's start."

"Okay", her brother muttered and allowed Lilly to lead him away from this smirking moron, deciding that he would finish him off on the road. When they had reached the orange line that was painted on the asphalt and Shane walking to his sister to wish her good luck, Brian couldn't suppress his fury anymore.

"Who's this guy and how can he dare talking like this about you?! Did he even win just once, yet? How come you let yourself be pushed around like this?! I……….I'm going to……….."

"Come down, bro", Lilly took one of Brian's hands in hers,"his name's Mike Anders, also known as _The One and Only_, he's the captain of my school's football-team and thinks of himself as the world's greatest. And no, he's going to race for the first time tonight and that's why I didn't give a damn about him insulting me, 'cause he's the baby in your group, I think, so I know that you're going to give him the roughest awakening he's ever had, please?"

"Course", the man embraced his sister and kissed her forehead,"nobody offends you like he did without being punished."

"That's my bro."

A few yards away from them, a woman was standing on the street and raised her arms. "Ready, set", her hands clapped together,"GO!" Four cars raced into the night, flames coming out of the exhausts.

"C'mon Suki! Show them what being a girl means!" Lilly screamed while seeing Tej leaving the crowd and approaching them.

"So", the grin that came across his handsome face showed that he was completely relaxed and rather sure about the money he would win this night,"Bullitt's driving or did Chica use her puppy eyes and made her big bro give in?"

"Tej", Lilly faked hurt shock,"I'm a good girl. I'd never use such evil weapons!"

"Oh yes, you would!" Brian and Tej exclaimed simultaneously. The girl crossed her arms and stuck out her lower lip just enough to form a tiny pout before growling at the men in front of her, showing them her white teeth.

"I'm going to the finish line now", she said quite determined while turning around and disappearing into the crowd once more. _As if I'd need puppy eyes to make Brian let me race_, Lilly sulked, though, her inner voice was telling her that Brian and Tej were right. But the anger was already forgotten when she saw Suki's flashy pink Honda arriving at the finish as the first of its group.

"She's an original", Tej licked his lips and his eyes sparkled.

"I know", the ex-cop merely nodded,"I know." He then gave Tej his cash and walked over to where he had parked his Nissan and got in. His group was next. It was time for the moron from earlier to start praying.

"50 seconds left", Lilly heard Tej calling and she let herself be dragged to the start by Shane and Suki. Again, the street was empty, again, the people were whooping and yelling the drivers' names, again, the electricity in the air became almost unbearable.

40 seconds left.

Two drivers were still missing.

30 seconds left.

Mike Anders drove his car right next to Brian's which was standing outside left. They looked at each other and Lilly wondered, if she had just seen _The One and Only_ swallowing down his fear, but she wasn't sure, while her brother was smiling at her and nodding as well. _He is so going to finish Anders off_, Lilly grinned and mouthed a "hurt him". 

20 seconds left.

The last bets were made. Brian let his engine roar to show his sister that he had understood. The last driver, Vittorio, completed the group.

10 seconds left.

Each of the drivers showed first signs of nervousness, except Brian. Being a believing Catholic, Vittorio kissed his lucky charm, a small cross made out of silver. John breathed deeply in and out. _The One and Only_ drummed with his hands on the steering wheel. Brian leaned back in his seat and waited for the show to begin.

5 seconds left.

A young Spanish woman wearing light blue hot pants, white boots and a white bikini top walked cat-like onto the street. 

4 seconds left.

She stopped just a few yards away from the cars and raised her hands into the air.

3 seconds left.

"Ready?" Her light accent was everything that cut through the silence. Her hands came closer to one another.

2 seconds left.

"Set!" Only few inches separated her palms now.

1 second left.

Everbody seemed to have frozen in time.

"GO!" And clap!

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Please review, okay? And again, I want to apologize for my English…………………..       

(Just in case that you didn't know: Chica is Spanish and means girl/babe)      


	5. About Winners and Losers

Hey guys! I know, it's been a while, but school kept me rather busy. I'm really sorry that you had to wait so long and hope that you will enjoy this chapter. I tried to make it little longer than the others to make up for the lost updates!!!

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About Winners and Losers

Clap!

The sign that it was time to let all the anger and tension leave the body to drive. To do nothing else but driving. To feel the NOS running through your veins.

Brian O'Connor lived for this feeling.

Stepping on the gas pedal, he left the cheering crowd behind and overtook the guy named John, before entering the first corner. He shot a look into the mirror to get a better view on the situation behind him.

While Vittorio was almost next to him, the moron tried to stay close to John with as much power as his car had to offer. Brian had to smile evilly at that.

"C'mon moron",he changed the gear,"not going to lose, are you?"

But the young man wasn't planning on wasting his time by thinking about some stupid, arrogant kid whose driving skills weren't good enough to win a race. He turned the steering wheel and took the first corner, getting some space between him and Vittorio, who was also driving at the limits of his car without having pressed the NOS-buttons yet.

*********************

"Fuck!" Mike Anders wasn't happy with the situation. He was almost at full-speed by now and still, the other guys in his group were in front of him. He was last! He, _The One and Only_, was last! These guys had to be cheating somehow, otherwise it couldn't be possible for them to be in front of him………. especially this _Bullitt_! Turning the wheel to the right to enter the next corner, he saw the large amount of street between his and _Bullitt_'s car, while this man-Jack or Jim, he didn't know-was overtaking him.

"NO!"The team-captain couldn't believe this was happening. He would lose! He had never lost before! But now, he would lose a total of 2500$ and he needed the money. He had to get behind these guys' secret…………. he had to learn more about this NOS-stuff and how it worked, then he would win and get all of his money back. Though, right now, he would have to think about a good excuse for him being last. The people at school wouldn't believe Shane and Lilly, if they told them, but what about all of the babes who were waiting for him at the finish. 

"Oh, well", he sighed and stepped on his gas pedal while changing the gear,"I still do look better than all of the others, so they'll still have the hots for me."

**************************

"Vitto, Vitto, Vitto",Brian shook his head in disbelief,"already pressing your buttons? And there I thought you'd be smarter than that."

The leading duo had reached the last leg of the race and Vittorio's nervousness had ended in him using his NOS…………..way too early, how Brian knew. He felt the adrenaline with every breath he took and his thumbs were itching to press the tiny red buttons on his steering wheel, but he would have to wait another 100 yards or so, otherwise he wouldn't be able to overtake Vittorio.

The sound of a roaring engine behind him caught his attention and the blond man looked into his mirror to see John coming closer from behind………..no sign of the moron or the trash he called his car.

The time had come.

Brian O'Connor leaned back in his seat, while his thumbs were pushing the red buttons. Immediately, he was pressed into his seat and whooped, feeling the rush of freedom and NOS. 

Vittorio's car was soon overtaken and Brian saw the cheering crowd in front of him. This night seemed to be perfect! Not only he had won, but he had beaten this damn guy who had been stupid enough to insult his baby…………..and he would get 10.000$.

**************************

"That's _my _big bro!" Lilly whooped as loud as possible and raised her arms high up into the air, clapping and smiling and feeling completely happy, while Brian was getting out of his car, also grinning like mad. She was embraced by Shane who was shouting that he couldn't believe _The One and Only_ had lost and that Brian was the greatest driver alive and some other stuff Lilly wasn't able to understand due to all the people around them who were celebrating Bullitt's victory. Lilly imagined heaven to be something close to these few moments after this race.

"My man", Tej laid his hand on Brian's shoulder and gave him his winnings,"how come you always win? I'll tell ya: **cause you're the best**!" The men laughed before Brian got kissed by Suki and asked her where his sister was. He had so gotten used to this beautiful smile and shining eyes after he had won a race that he would somehow miss it, even, if merely a few minutes passed between him getting out of the car and her approaching.   

"Somewhere around, I guess", Suki shrugged,"you know she'd never dare not coming to tell you that you're the best."

"True again", the blond man nodded and turned his attention back to the cheering crowd, being sure that his younger sister would manage to find him eventually.

"Where is he?" Lilly folded her arms in front of her belly and tapped with one foot on the hard ground, eyes focused on the road. 

"Turn your head to the right and you will see your brother", Shane couldn't understand why his friend was still scanning the street, when the race had been over since at least thirty seconds. Why didn't she want to see her brother like she usually did?

"M not talking 'bout Brian", the girl tucked on of her blond strands behind her left ear,"m waiting for _The One and Only_ to arrive. Even with _his_ car, he should be here by now."

"Oh", that was everything the boy had on his mind at this very second before the thoughts started blurting out of his mouth,"why do you even care? It's not like he'll accept that he has lost. You know him just as well as I do! He's the sorest loser alive and after having been _himself_ before the race started, he is most likely to have run away like the coward he is! Let's just go joining the party, 'kay? C'mon."

He took her gently by her upper arm but was shaken off immediately.

"The party's goin' to last the whole night. There won't be any difference, if I go there now or in a minute", it bothered her that _The One and Only_ wasn't showing up. Of course, she thought of him as a complete idiot and a loser, but she had at least imagined him to be honest and smart enough to bring the race to an end. If he didn't come within the next few seconds, there wouldn't be any mercy for him and maybe he would never be allowed to start again. Even the ones who lost control over their cars had the courage to stand up for their mistakes and to cross the finish line.

"But don't be angry afterwards", Shane knew that his friend was indeed stubborn and so, he didn't try to change her mind about waiting,"I'm goin' to congratulate your brother on his victory now and I'll tell him that you'll be coming in a minute or two, 'kay?"

"I'm not stubborn and, of course, it's okay", at times, Lilly could really read her best friends thoughts and she didn't want him to stay with her, when his mind was all about celebrating and getting some girls' numbers. She saw the boy entering the area of the party and her attention went back to the road. 

_Shane's right, though_, she sighed,_ I can't be waiting here for the rest of the night. Just another minute, then I'll be going. How ridiculous is it to wait for an arrogant guy whom you wanted to lose? I should go. I have to hug my bro and make him smile._

With that, the girl was just about to turn around, when a pair of headlights appeared at the end of the street. Could it be…….? She checked her watch and shook her head no. The race had been over for fifty seconds and he was coming _now_? What did he do on the way? Stopped to drink some coffee? But that didn't matter. She had proven Crash that he had been wrong about _The One and Only_.

The horrible painted car came closer and closer until it was driven over to the side, where some other cars were standing. Anders couldn't cross the finish line due to the people still standing there, but he was already wearing his arrogant smile again when he got out of the Renault. Lilly decided that she had seen enough of this, she would have preferred the sight of a Mike Anders who finally understood that he wasn't the best and that there were people who could beat him, instead, she received _The One and Only_ in top form, diving slowly into the crowd, always smiling and trying to look cool. 

The girl shook her head and sighed. _Some people are never gonna change_.

That was when she turned around to search her big brother to congratulate him.

*********************

There had been only seven groups this night and the cops hadn't come to disturb any of the fun, so now, the party had moved to the backyard of Tej's garage.

The people were drinking and dancing and, of course, talking about cars. All around the _dance-floor_ were little groups of three or more people. Men showing off their latest equipment, women chattering about clothes and men, every now and then a couple doing each other's mouth with their tongues, a little _bar_, where the people got their drinks. Everything was lit by festoons/lanterns, something like that but it didn't matter anyway, there was some light and nobody bothered to ask where it was coming from.

Lilly was sitting on one of the loungers Tej owned, among a group of six other teenagers who were also coming to the races due to them being related to somebody or anything like that. Right next to Lilly on the lounger sat Sam, a 17-year-old guy with tousled hazelnut-colored hair and green eyes, who was also a quite successful biker, on a chair Caroline, shooting glares at Lilly because Sam was talking to the blond, though Caroline thought that she was looking a lot hotter. Then, there were Shane close to a chick named Tanya, both sitting on a towel laid on the sand. Andy and Greg, both 17-year-old bikers and good friends of Sam, were sitting on the sand and on a chair and completed the group.

"Ya should 'ave seen me Dad", Sam took a sip from his beer and smiled at the memory," 'e went all white when 'e saw 'is brand-new Mercedes totally wrecked."

"I can only imagine",Lilly grinned and saw Shane and his flirt, Tanya, getting up and going over to the dancing area. 

"I think I left my purse somewhere", Caroline announced and stood up, hoping that Sam would take a good look at her long bronze legs while she was walking away over the sandy ground with her high heels. 

"Can't stand it, when she isn't the center of attention", Greg swallowed down another mouth full of beer,"I really don't understand such people."

"Tell me 'bout it", the only girl left answered, thinking of _The One and Only_, whom she could see in the distance, flirting with some air-heads.

"Time to go home or my mom's gonna freak", Andy said after looking at his watch. He rose up from his chair, took his two empty bottles of beer with him and was already off, when Greg, whose parents would also not like the fact that their son had been out till three o'clock in the morning, shouted that he should wait for him, so that they could leave together.

So there were only Sam and Lilly left.

"Do ya also spray motorbikes?" The boy rested his hands on his knees and eyed the scratches in Lilly's jeans _accidently_, seeing golden skin beneath the blue material.

"I have never done one before, but it's no difference, I guess. Why?"

"Well", Sam didn't want his answer to sound cheesy or anything, that's why he thought before speaking,"I saw some o' yer sprayings and I wondered, if ya would give me Cash a new one."

"Your Cash?" Lilly knew that Sam called his motorcycle Cash because of all the cash he won with it and she knew just as well that Cash was Sam's greatest treasure, so it was quite a big deal that he would let her spray it. "Course, I can. You just have to tell me the colors and what's exactly on your mind and then……….well, then I can start ASAP."

"Cool", Sam nodded and saw Lilly slightly yawning,"hope, I'm not tiring ya, am I?"

"No, no, no", Lilly waved with her hands,"it's just, you know, it's three o'clock in the morning and I'm up since, like, seven o'clock yesterday morning non-stop. 'S all, please don't think it's you or anything, okay?"

"Sorry, I didn't know…….."

"'S okay, don't be. I'll be in a better mood this afternoon", she looked into his deep green eyes and caught herself staring a little,"you comin' around today to talk 'bout the spraying?"

"O' course. How about four o'clock?"

"Sounds good to me", she nodded and both of them got up from the lounger, walking side by side. Sam then said bye and Lilly went to find Brian to tell him that she was going home. Their apartment wasn't even half a mile away from Tej's garage, so she didn't need a car, but she wanted Brian at least to know that she was at home. She didn't want him to worry about her.

Scanning the crowd for any sign of her older brother, Lilly didn't really look at the people she was passing by, until an all too familiar voice made her turn her head to the left.

"Look who's here", a slightly drunken Mike Anders was standing less than two yards away from her, surrounded by three racing-queen wanna-bes and holding a bottle of beer in his right hand,"want to congratulate me?"

The girl thought that maybe she had heard him wrong, but even if she was tired and had drunken two bottles herself, her mind wouldn't play such tricks on her.

"What the hell are you talkin' about, Anders? Don't you know the difference between winning and losing? You _lost_! You didn't even cross the line."

"Winning and losing isn't about crossing the line as the first one", the boy told her with an arrogant sneer,"it's about the way you're handling it. And I'm handling it better than anybody else. That makes me the winner."

"Yeah, sure", Lilly rolled her eyes,"handling it by getting drunk, that much I can see."

"Jealous 'cause you can't win a race by yourself", he faked pity on the girl,"I'm _so_ sorry."

"What do you mean _can't win a race by myself_? I've already won more than your Dad earns per year", _why am I even talking to him? I should just go and search Brian. But I want to know what his last comment means!_

"Course, you did", Mike felt so superior to Lilly, he couldn't believe it himself………..almost,"but everybody can drive his or her older brother's car. It's not like you deserve to win. Even the most untalented driver could beat everybody else, if he was sitting in a great car that has been built by somebody else. So, you wanna congratulate me on my first race I lost driving _my own car_, or what?"

It took much to take Lilly aback, but right now, the blond had to review the conversation she was just having. She didn't want to see Anders' face anymore, she just wanted to go home.

"No, I won't", she continued searching a way through the crowd, leaving _The One and Only_ behind, while cursing innerly. _No I won't? No I won't! What kind of answer is that?! Great Lilly, I really am proud of you! How much I hate this guy! How dare he……………being right. What?! What was that?! This is Mike Anders I'm thinking about, he can't be right! But he is. No, he's not! I win because I'm good, that's it! Yeah, in my brother's car. Oh my God, I'm arguing with myself! I really am tired._

Lilly kept on scanning the crowd for Brian, but he was nowhere to be seen and she wanted to fall into her bed as soon as possible, so when she saw Jimmy, she decided that he could tell Brian as well that she was at home.

"Bro?"She tipped him on the shoulder and made him look up from a magazine he seemed to be reading. The article was about engines.

"Hey", he smiled at her,"'s up?"

"Nothing, I just wanted to ask you, if you'd be so nice to tell Brian that I already went home. Would you do that for me? Please, please?" She was batting her eyelashes at him, knowing that he couldn't deny her anything. She really liked the young man, not everybody earned the term _bro_. 

"Got it", she was about to leave, when he gently grabbed her hand,"which group you wanna be?"

It was something like a tradition that Tej would draw up the list with the groups for the next time on every party after the last race. Usually, the people stayed until he pulled out his pager, but close friends were allowed to tell him or some friend the number of their group when they went home before the party was over and that was it. 

Lilly didn't think before answering Jimmy's question and a "I don't wanna race tonight" escaped her mouth. 

She didn't even realize what she had said until she was standing in front of Tej's garage.

"I don't wanna race tonight", she spoke the words as if she had never heard them from her lips before. Well, actually, she did. The girl couldn't remember her using this sentence ever before, but it had just rolled off her tongue while talking to Jimmy.

"Stupid Anders!" She hissed through her teeth and while walking home, Lilly kept on wondering why such a jerk could make her not want to race. 

"I can win by myself", she told herself, looking down at her sneakers, but the little traiterous voice inside her head nagged on the fact that she had never lost in _Brian's_ car.

"Shut up."

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Okay, I hope the next chapter won't take so long and I beg you to review!

REVIEW!

Till next time………….    


	6. It's Coming

Author's note

3/29/2004

I promise!!!


	7. A Brother's Worries

Ich weiß, ich weiß: ich hätte eigentlich schon viel, viel früher updaten sollen, aber irgendwie hat alles nicht so recht geklappt, wie ich es wollte. Schreibblockade! Doch in letzter Zeit kamen mir endlich wieder ein paar gute Ideen und das wollte ich ausnutzen, daher ist dieses Kapitel auch etwas länger geworden als die vorherigen. Gut, damit kann ich nicht unbedingt wieder gutmachen, dass ich knapp zwei Monate nichts von mir habe hören lassen, einen Versuch ist es mir jedoch wert. Ich werde jetzt wieder versuchen, mich des Öfteren an den PC zu setzen und zu schreiben. Übrigens möchte ich mich bei allen sich ärgernden Lesern entschuldigen. Ich hätte euch nicht solange warten lassen dürfen, das war unfair, zumal ich es selbst nicht ausstehen kann, wenn jemand eine Story schreibt, die mir gefällt, und mich dann mit einem Update auf die Folter spannt. Also, an dieser Stelle: Tut mit leid!!

Ich hoffe, ihr könnt mir noch mal verzeihen und habt Spaß dabei, das neue Kapitel zu lesen, das ich eigentlich erst am 29. posten wollte, aber da es jetzt schon fertig ist...........Surprise!!!!

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A Brother's Worries

"Folks! Some attention, please!" Tej stood on one of the chairs, waving his hands slightly to make the people around him stop their conversations and look at him."I now how much y'all like to party, hell, even the ones like me, who have ta work today", he grinned," love to party. But, unfortunately, every party has to have an end. So, before everybody's leaving, tell me, please: who wants to win some money this night?!"

The people whooped, while the handsome black man got down from his chair, taking out his pager and waiting for the young men and women to tell him their groups. 

"Excuse me, will you?" Brian smiled as charming as possible, his blue eyes sparkling, having turned around, though, the smile changed to an annoyed grimace. How did he manage to chat with this air-head for so long? He merely hoped that she wouldn't be too hurt when she figured out that he wasn't interested in her, but looking back over his shoulder, he saw her already clinging on to some other guy's arm, giggling like a little school-girl. Brian sighed half-relieved, half-confused, walking over to Tej.

"Hey Brian", Suki sat on a lounger close to the crowd around Tej, looking at her younger brother, who was amongst them.

"Hey Suki", sitting down as well, the blond man followed the young woman's eyes, noticing Shane and grinning,"going to let him drive?"

She smacked his biceps."He can drive, Bullitt, you know that! And it's not like you're the one to make any jokes, having a younger sister yourself!"

"Yeah, but Lilly _doesn't_ wreck my car", Brian laughed, scanning the crowd for his little sister,"where is she? I haven't seen her since we arrived."

"I don't know. The last time, I saw her, she was with some cutie." 

"Who and when?"The man didn't like the thought of his baby being together with somebody Suki described as _cutie_.

"They were just talking, Brian", the sexy Asian shook her head slightly. She found it sweet that Brian was that worried about Lilly but she was sorry for her as well. A 16-year-old girl wasn't especially fond of having an overprotective father or older brother, she could tell from experience. "Stop being such a _Daddy_ and get used to the fact that she's …………. _developing_." 

" I'm not listening. I'm **so** not listening", Brian said, covering his ears with his hands, while Suki was laughing. Finally, the blond man stopped joking and beacme once again serious. "And you really don't know where she might be? I mean, there aren't that much possibilities and I can't spot her somewhere around here",checking the people who hadn't gone home yet, he sighed. "Actually, at this time, she should be begging me to let her drive."

"Don't worry, Bullitt", Suki patted his shoulder,"she's able to watch out for herself. You taught her how to."

"You're probably right, but still", Brian saw Jimmy coming over," hey bro! You seen my sis somewhere?"

The mechanic looked at his friends. "She went home an hour or so ago", standing in front of the two people sitting on the lounger, he put his hands into the big pockets of his pants.

"She told you her group?"Brian didn't appreciate his sister being mad at him for not signing her up. Jimmy shrugged.

"She said that she didn't want to race tonight. Rather odd for her, but I thought that she had a date or something, so I didn't ask her any further." By the look Brian gave him, Jimmy felt uncomfortable and shifted his weight on his feet. "Anything wrong with that? I just……. well, ya know, I ………"

"No, it's alright, you didn't do anything wrong", he stood up,"but I have to go home." Waving his left hand while leaving, Suki raised her perfectly shaped eyebrows.

"Ya know", she said to Jimmy, who was still standing in front of her, looking slightly confused,"I really don't know, if I should think of his over-protectiveness as cute or simply annoying."

***********************

Brian left his car standing at Tej's and was already across the street, walking faster than he usually did, but then again, the circumstances were rather unusual. His sister had said that she hadn't wanted to drive! His mind was already racing. Lilly might be sick. Lilly might be lying somewhere on the sidewalk, unconcious. There had to be a reason for her not wanting to drive and it was making him nuts!

_Calm down man, she's okay, she's okay. Oh God! Please let her be okay! There has to be something wrong with her, I just know it and I don't like this knowledge! Why would she refuse to race? That's just not like her! Did I do anything wrong? No, she's my baby, she knows that I only want the best for her, Lilly can come to me, when she's got a problem. So, what's wrong?! I don't understand her behaviour! Maybe she went home because she was tired, okay, but she could have told **me** that she was leaving! _

By the time he had a headache, he could - fortunately - already see the door of their apartment house.

***********************

Lilly was tossing and turning around in her bed. She cursed. Why wasn't it possible for her to sleep?!

The girl could answer the question herself: Mike Anders. Mr. _You can't win by yourself_. Why were his words still nagging on her mind? Why didn't she give a damn about his opinion? 

"C'mon girl", she tried to distract herself,"close your eyes, take deep breaths and calm down. Don't think about Anders, just _don't_." She laid her head down on the soft white pillow, shut her eyelids and breathed in and out…………until her eyes snapped open again.

"This doesn't work",she groaned, pulling the fabric of her covers over her face, when she heard the door of their apartment being opened.

_Brian! Shit!_

Lilly quickly turned her back to the door of her room and steadied her breath, while the sound of footsteps rang through the silence of the hall. The door was shut, keys clattered.

Brian saw that Lilly's door was merely leaned against its frame and he pushed it slowly open, careful not to wake his sister because it seemed as though she was already asleep. Well, it only_ seemed_ like that and ,actually, most people would have believed in the girl's act, but the man could tell whenever his sister was faking sleep. With each breath, the covers rose a little and then sank down again. The breaths were too deep, they looked forced and that's unusual for a sleeping person. So Brian walked to where the bed stood and sat down on its edge.

"Stop pretending to be asleep. You know that doesn't work with me",he spoke in a low, almost whispering voice. No answer. "I just wanna know what's wrong, 's all. C'mon Lilly, talk to me, please."

Lilly couldn't stand it, when her brother was worried about her, it made her feel bad. She sighed once more in this particular early morning.

"Nothing's wrong", she didn't turn around to face Brian, though. It was easier to hide something from him when he wasn't looking her in the eye.

"Yeah. _Right_",his fingertips played with her hair,"and that's why you didn't tell me that you were leaving and that you didn't wanna race tonight."

"What's wrong with that?" She was still lying on her left side, staring at the wall in front of her.

"It's just………strange. My antenna receives these certain vibes what only happens whenever something's not okay with you."

" 'Big bro-antenna', huh? And there I always thought they wouldn't be more than a myth."

"I'm sorry to disappoint you but they're pretty much real", Brian stroked carefully up and down his sister's back, trying to make her realize that he wasn't mad at her," turn 'round?"

At first, she wanted to answer him that she would like to get some sleep, but it seemed cruel to her. Lilly hated the thought of not being able to explain what she felt and why she behaved the way she did, but she wanted to solve this problem on her own. If she told her brother, he would deny everything Mike had said and she knew that this would make her feel merely worse. Nethertheless, she turned around to face her older sibling.

She studied his features and saw that he was worried and somehow confused, while his eyes were completely calm and sparkled a little with happiness as he caressed her cheek and tucked a strand behind her ear.

"Why don't you want to drive tonight?"Brian was holding his palm against his sister's forehead to check if she had a temperature, but everything seemed to be okay.

"Because",Lilly sat up, making the covers drop down into her lap,"I promised Chris to watch this Chinese movie together with her and some of the others." So maybe this hadn't been the original word order, Lilly could remember using the words she had just told her brother, though. To be exact, the girl had promised to _think_ about watching this Chinese movie together with Chris and some of the others, take the 'think part' and she hadn't just lied to her brother who was frowning.

"Chris? I don't happen to know him, do I?"

"Chris is a girl! Don't you listen to me? I said _together with her_ not _him_. Her name's _Christine_. We've got some classes together and get along pretty well",Lilly grinned at the relieved breath Brian took.

"And you can't watch this movie, like, not today?"He really tried to convince his sister to spend the evening with him due to them not having much time for each other under the week.

"M sorry, bro. This is like a one-time offer, you know because the film is more like a documentation it means that there won't be much people who are willing to watch it, so they're only going to show it twice: this afternoon and tonight. Chris and two others have to work today, therefore, we decided to go in the evening. That good with you?"

"Of course, it is",Brian smiled, feeling somehow relieved, though knowing that Lilly hadn't told him the whole truth, but pushing her wouldn't do any good. He would have to wait until she found that it was time for a serious talk, for now, he was suddenly embraced by his younger sister and returning the hug, he rested his chin on her shoulder, looking down her back that was covered by………

"Hey, is this one of my T-shirts you're wearing?" It was an old black 'Scorpions'-shirt with all the different cities and dates written in white on the back. Brian had been searching for this one for about five weeks now and here Lilly was, wearing it to sleep in it like it was some kind of nightgown.

"Ah…..yes. Why? You wanna have it back?" Grabbing the bottom of the shirt to pull it over her head, Lilly smiled evilly at her brother who was already looking away, waving his hands.

"No! Keep it on! You can have it………at least for one more night!"He still refused to look at her direction, though his eyes were closed."Tell me that you're dressed and make this really embarrassing scene stop."

"I'm dressed", she replied, smiling even wider than before and when their eyes met, both of them started laughing.

"You're cruel",Brian coughed a little and gave his little sister a kiss on her forehead,"time to sleep."

"'kay."Lilly lay down, pulling the covers up to her shoulders.

"You want me to call Tej so that you are off for today?"The man bent down to brush a few strands of hair out of his sibling's face."It's already very late, or early, and you need to rest."

"Nah", the blond shook her head, yawning slightly,"I've an appointment today at four p.m. and if I was to stay at home, I'd just get bored. We'll be at Tej's anyway cos you let your car there."

"How'd you know?"

"The garages of this house are on my side, remember? And I can extremely well distinguish between your car and any other one. Time for you to go to bed, too", she shut her eyes and cuddled into her pillow while her brother stroked her cheek.

"Good night, baby", he said in a sing-song voice.

"Good night, Daddy", she answered like a four-year-old.

Brian stood up and left the room, closing the door behind his back while Lilly shut her heavy eyelids, trying to finally get some sleep. 

The young man walked slowly into his own room, stripped his clothes of, except for his boxers, and lay down in his bed, not caring that he actually still had to brush his teeth……….he was too tired for things like that by now. But, all of the sudden, a thought occurred to his mind.

_Did Lilly say 'your car' while talking to me? She did, didn't she? Why would she do that? It's our car, not only mine. She never used to choose her words like that before._

He yawned.

_We'll talk 'bout this later this day. I have to sleep otherwise I won't be able to convince her that it's better for the both of us, when we're honest to each other._

With this one last thought, he closed his eyes and it didn't take him long to fall asleep.

***********************

A light breeze made Lilly open her eyes very slowly due to her just waking up. She looked around, noticing that her room was already lit by sunlight coming in through her opened window and door. 

2.18 p.m. showed the blue digital figures of her alarm clock.

It hadn't been just the breeze that woke her up, but also a certain smell: food, very tasty food. Turkey……. and some kind of sauce……….. fried mushrooms…….. Lilly's stomach growled a bit. Flinging her legs out of the bed, she got up and strolled silently into the kitchen where Brian was standing in front of the stove, wearing nothing but a pair of light gray boxers.

"Look who's finally awake",he joked and his sister smacked his arm playfully.

"Says the man who didn't have a 20-hours-day",she replied, rubbing some sleep out of her right eye.

"Still, smacking my arm while I'm cooking for you isn't very nice."

"You haven't shaved yet, so it's only fair that you get to kiss my cheek. C'mon",she pointed at her right cheek, pressing her eyelids together,"quick and painless."

Brian grinned. He knew exactly how much his sister hated it when he gave her a peek on the cheek without being shaven. It simply scratched. Taking advantage of her offer, he bent down and kissed her cheek……….longer than he usually did, of course.

"Okay",Lilly protested, turning her head away,"that's enough, bro. The food's ready, I guess, so I better set the table."

"Don't you love me anymore?" Brian faked hurt, his voice trembling a little.

"I do love you, bro",the girl sounded annoyed, although smiling,"but I'd love you more, if you sat down so that we can eat this delicious-smelling lunch together."

And that was exactly what they did.

**************************

After having done the dishes with Brian, the teenage girl went into the bathroom to take a shower and to shave where it was necessary. Fortunately, she wasn't a bloody beginner anymore, so she didn't cut herself like she had done it last year. 

Wearing clean panties and a shirt, Lilly walked into her room and while drying her hair with a towel, she opened the doors of her wardrobe, searching for clothes which looked good but not _too good_. Something occasionally that was tight but at the same time not _tight_. Throwing the towel over the little armchair to her left, she grabbed a red sleveless top.

"Too red",she murmured, putting the item back into the wardrobe,"what can I wear that makes me look a little better than usual but not dressed up?"

Looking through her clothes again, she settled for some dark blue jeans with worn-out looks which clung just a little tighter and a little more below her hips than the usual ones, but the most important thing was that they looked ordinary, neither too fancy nor too girly. The matching top was dark green, its neckline merely a bit wider and the cut a bit shorter than those of the ones Lilly usually wore. She knew that her brother wouldn't be pleased with her choice of clothes, a fact that reassured her to have chosen the right outfit. It was like an old game to them: Brian would, once again, discover that his little baby had grown female _curves_ and try to forget this thought as soon as possible, after having forbidden Lilly to wear such tight an outfit. Lilly liked the game a lot, because it showed her how much her brother actually cared for her and it reminded Brian of the fact that little birds had to spread their wings and leave the nest sometimes. 

Combing her fingers through her already dried hair to get it out of her face, she sat down on the edge of her bed to put on her sneakers.

"Ready?"Brian knocked on her door. Why was it taking his sister so long to get dress? She usually didn't spend more than five minutes on it. He himself had already showered, shaven and dressed, too.

"I'm coming",she called back while raising. Taking one last look into the mirror, she grabbed her "work bag" and went into the hall only to see her brother's eyes widen. So she knew that she looked good.

"You……",Brian couldn't find the right words to form a sentence, instead, he just kept on regarding his sister. Lilly had a _body_. A _body_ with well-developed _female attributes_! She didn't have these before, did she? He had always known that his sister was pretty……….a pretty girl, not a beautiful young woman who was standing in front of him. When did she grew so much? All the guys would look at her in that certain kind of way no big brother appreciated. Today, Brian would have to watch his sister a little bit more carefully, not that anybody dared coming _too close_ to her.__

_Though, maybe I can…….._

"You can't wear these things",he said very determined, folding his arms in front of his chest, but he received nothing but a laugh.

"I already am wearing them, bro",the girl smiled, then opened the door and left the apartment,"and you can't forbid me to do so."

"Yes, I can",Brian sounded somehow desperated by now, watching his sister walking down the stairs. He didn't want his baby to look so…….._grown up_. He wanted the small five-year-old who used to crawl into his bed when she got scared by a nightmare or a monster sitting under her bed. 

Deciding that it was better to keep an eye on her, he closed the door, following Lilly. Stepping out onto the sidewalk, Brian saw his sibling leaning against a streetlamp, smiling.

"Finally",she grinned, beginning to walk into the direction of Tej's garage.

"And there's really no chance…..",the man tried again but she cut hin off.

"No there isn't."

"Why not?"

"Because."

"Why did you even…"

"Promise me not to yell or to get……. like you get at times, okay?"

"Lilly."

Walking next to each other, Brian looked at his sister who focused on her shoes.

"Remember the appointment I told you about?"

"Yeah, why….?"He understood………and he didn't like what he understood."Why didn't you tell me you had a date?!"

"Because then, you would have done anything to stop me from leaving home",Lilly defended herself.

"Exactly!"Brian couldn't believe that his baby actually had a date and had tried to hide it from him! She ought to know better than that."Who's it, by the way? Suki's bro?"He liked the boy, although Shane could be quite childish at times.

"Of course not",the girl smiled to reassure her brother that there was no reason to hold a grudge against her date,"we're just friends, bro. He's too…….. I don't think that we could be in love, ya know. We just don't like each other in that kind of way."

"But you like your date in that kind of way?"

"Yes, I do", seeing the demanding look he directed at her, she started,"his name's Sam. Samuel Keith. He's 17 and visiting another school. Maybe you know his cousin, what was his name, Robert……..Robert Lorley."

"I know Rob, he's okay",Brian shrugged, relaxing a bit. After all, this Sam didn't seem to be too bad and Lilly liked him. It was only fair that Sam got a chance to prove himself. "What kind of car does he drive?"

"Well", Lilly swallowed. Her brother had already accepted that Sam would meet her at Tej's, that was definitely a good sign,"actually, he's not driving a _car_:"

"What do you mean _he's not driving a car_? No",the man shook his head slightly no,"he's a biker, right? At least a successful one?"

Lilly nodded.

"But no kissing or anything, I could happen to watch",Brian tried to sound determined, but his grin traited him. He still didn't like the idea of his baby dating guys, therefore he took the opportunity to be somewhere around, just in case.

_I have to get used to this. She isn't a small little girl anymore who needs to be protected. I must accept that, if I want to or not. She has to learn how to handle relationships like that, it's important. Oh God, please let this Sam be nice. I don't want Lilly to be sad._

"Bro, personally, I don't consider Tej's garage to be a rather romantic place, so don't be worried about the kissing-part."

By the time Lilly spoke the last few words, they were already walking onto the parking lot in front of their friend's garage.  

**********************

The afternoon was perfect. Perfect weather, perfect atmosphere, perfect Jimmy, Suki and Tej who would distract Brian from the fact that Sam was flirting with Lilly and the other way around. By the time it was obvious to the teenagers that the others couldn't stop an overprotective brother from getting up and walking over to them anymore, they quickly exchanged phone numbers and Sam was on his Cash in not even a second. Unfortunately, even after the boy had driven away, Brian wouldn't stop having at least one eye on his sister due to her clothes which seemed to attract the majority of the men coming by. They actually didn't really try to flirt with her, but, of course, they knew the 16-year-old and complimented on her clothing………..while Lilly thought that they were merley scared of her brother who didn't seem to have at least one minute to relax and sit back into his chair, playing poker with Tej, Suki and Jimmy.

So, at a certain point, Lilly decided that she didn't want her older brother to worry anymore……..it was simply too much a stress for the both of them. She sat down next to him and watched her friends playing cards, not a very entertaining thing to do, but her neck was already getting sore from all this turning around to look where Brian was.

"Time to go",Lilly said looking at her brother's watch. It was eight o'clock and the film she wanted to watch would start at 8.30.

"You need a ride?"Brian offered, knowing all too well that his sister would have taken the bus, if he hadn't. She really needed a car and the man decided to take care of that problem during her vacation period.

"I love you",she replied happily. They said goodbye to their friends and got into the Nissan. Brian was driving.

"When are you coming home?" They stopped at a red traffic light.

"Somewhere around 12, I guess",leaning back, the girl regarded her brother from behind her blond bangs, wondering what he might be thinking.

"Shall I pick you up, then? 's no problem, really."

"That's nice but I can't expect you to wait for my call, like, the whole night, bro."

"Ya sure?"

"Yeah, bro."

"What if…?"

"_Bro_!"

*******************

Almost three hours after having driven his sister to the movies, Brian decided that he needed another shower.

*******************

Tej Parker wasn't very happy. Suki, Julius and Jack were all standing in front of him, next to their cars, and it didn't seem like the fourth member of their group would show up anytime soon.

_Graveyard shift. _

He had planned something special for this race and he wanted to see how it would work out. Suddenly, an idea came to his mind, while Suki and Julius were beginning an argument.

"Why don't I just find you a fourth and we settle this on the streets?"

The three drivers nodded their okay.

"Anybody I want?"

Again, they nodded.

"No matter who it is?"

Tej took out his cell phone and dialed a number. 

*******************

Brian had just come out of the shower, wearing nothing but a towel around his hips, when the telephone rang. Getting it, he heard Tej's voice.

"Yeah, man. You wanna race tonight?"

"Yeah, you know I could use the money."

"You got four minutes, man."

"All right, I'll be there."

*********************************************************************************

I guess that we all know how this night ended up for Brian……………..

Please, please review???                 


	8. Unexpected Developments

Another chapter!! I'm getting better!

Special thanks goes to Kate(I love you, you're such encouraging a person!!!)

And, of course, to all of the other reviewers.

I'm seriously thinking about changing the title and the summary. On the one hand, it fits, but on the other hand………… it sounds kinda lame.

Any ideas??

Have fun reading this chapter, kay?

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Unexpected Developments

They had caught him. He couldn't believe or even imagine how this had happened. But here he was, sitting on a cheap chair in front of a cheap table in this small room whose colour sickened him. Or maybe it was the agent next to him, having asked him questions for hours now. Or maybe it was the dry air inside of the room. His wrists had started to itch some time ago from having to wear handcuffs. His back felt sore and he was tired. They had asked him the same questions over and over again. Who he was, where he had been, but he refused to say anything except for: "You got the wrong guy."

That was what sickened him: that they didn't have the wrong guy, that he had been stupid enough to let them catch him………….that he would lose Lilly to them.

Brian sighed heavily.

It was his fault. He should have been more careful, more responisble……….a little faster. The Skyline was wrecked thanks to ESD.

_Environment sucks.-The drivers_, he smiled at his sister's words before his face became serious and somehow sad again. If they had already been at home and taken her with them? How had she reacted to the news? Was it possible that she might be just a few rooms away from him? Were they interrogating her as well? 

He didn't bother answering the Agent's questions anymore, he didn't even listen to him. How long would they separate them this time? At least for several years. He would miss her first car, her first boyfriend, her senior prom, everything that meant something to her, everything that brought her closer to being an adult. They would simply lock him up and……………..

Brian frowned. Why hadn't they locked him up yet? He had been in this small room since he had arrived at the building seven or even eight hours ago. Why were they wasting so much time by asking him questions he wouldn't answer? What were they waiting for? Maybe there was a problem with the computer and they couldn't get his file? No, unfortunately, he was quite sure that they knew who he was and what he had done. So what kept them busy?

_If Lil's already awake? I hope she wasn't worried when she got home and I wasn't there, I forgot to leave a note. Shit. I actually wanted to spend the day together with her. Only the two of us. Ocean Drive. That would have been fun. We haven't been doing this for almost six weeks. Afterwards going down to the beach, do some tanning, some surfing, just having a good time like a normal family. But then again, we aren't a normal family. There has to be some way for me to get outta this shit. Could I be put on probation? Probably not. They might even forbid her to visit me. Nah, she would find a solution for this problem. It's unlikely for my baby to give up, she's too smart and too stubborn. Hey, don't I have the right to make a  call? Gonna ask this guy-what was his name?- Markus, no, Marshall……….Markham. Yeah, that's his name. Speaking of the devil_, Brian watched the older man enter the room. He walked around the table, threw some papers on it and eventually stood opposite to the blond.

"So, how long you been in South Florida?"

"A while."

"Before that."

_Why should I tell you? Don't you know everything you need to know just from reading my record?_

"We know you're Brian O'Conner, formerly of the LAPD."

_I'm not going into jail. _

"You got the wrong guy." _It's worth a try. They have to believe me, they just have to._

"Really?" Markham wasn't convinced. He didn't understand why O'Conner kept on lying, they had caught him. Nevertheless, the young man nodded while looking him straight into the eye. A knock on the door made them turn their heads to the side and Brian cursed innerly. It was Bilkins coming in.

_Game over_, he thought, _now, they won't buy "You got the wrong guy" anymore._

"How you doing, O'Conner?"His dark eyes never left the younger man's face, who was focusing on the floor, not responding at all. "How's Lilly?" That gained Brian's attention. He looked up, his eyes showing lots of questions. Hadn't they brought her here, yet? Was she still at home? How much did they know? Did they even know where their apartment was? 

"She's fine", he finally answered, his voice completely unemotionell. Markham narrowed his eyes.

"The kid? Shouldn't she be here, by now?"He asked rather Bilkins than the other agent still standing in the corner behind Brian.

"Believe me",the black man cocked his head slightly to the right,"if you knew her, you wouldn't dare waking her up this early. She ain't a morning-person, right O'Conner?"

Brian chuckled. Lilly could be quite a brat, if she wanted to, sometimes it amused her to annoy the hell out of people. "Depends",he replied. So his sister didn't have a clue that they had caught him. Good. If he was given the chance, he would try to explain the situation to her himself…………he owed her that much.

"Let's take a walk",Bilkins said and caught the keys of Brian's handcuffs as Markham tossed them over to him.

**********************

Brian sat in one of the armchairs which were standing in the room, right in front of several flat-screens. It seemed to him as though this was some kind of head office concerning Carter Verone.

Carter Verone, his only chance to get round jail……….to get a clean record………..to keep Lilly.

However, there was a problem: Agent Dunn, the guy with whom he would have to work. Brian could cope with the fact that the job would be dangerous, that he might die, but with Agent Dunn chances were much higher to get killed. The man didn't know a thing about cars or racing. Nobody would ever believe that he was a streetracer. It was ridiculous. _I may as well take my chances in Chino._

"No way, man",Brian shook his head, already having an idea,"the only way I'll do this is if I get to pick the driver."

Bilkins sighed. "All right, O'Conner. Who you got in mind?"

"This dude I grew up with in Barstow",a tiny smiled began to tuck at the corners of Brian's mouth.

"Who's that?"Bilkins couldn't remember the blond man ever mentioning any childhood-friends.

A full grin plastered on his face, Brian answered: "Roman Pearce. But before we leave, I'd like to make a call."

"Okay."

***********************

For the thousandth time this night, Lilly walked from the kitchen into her room and sat down in her armchair. She sighed, tapping nervously with her fingers on her knees, regarding the drawing she had tried to distract herself with. When she had come home from the movies, she had found an empty apartment and thought that her brother might have gone out to race without leaving a note. But now, it was early morning, dawn was already coming and Brian still wasn't at home. 

_So maybe he met a woman with "potential",_ Lilly had thought. Still, she hadn't been able to sleep or to relax ever since she had walked into the apartment. Something was just not right. She felt it.

_'Little sis-antenna'._

What could possibly be wrong with Brian? The worst things which could have happened were either an accident or the cops, but her brother was too good a driver to let any of these be true.

"This is ridiculous",she had told herself while turning around in her bed,"Brian's fine. He'll come home during the day. Now, relax and go to sleep." Instead of relaxing and going to sleep, Lilly had found herself not even half an hour later in the kitchen to drink some water. She had leaned against the table and seen that it had already been 1.30 a.m. due to the clock hanging right above the door.

That had been almost five hours ago and since then, she hadn't shut her eyes for more than 20 seconds in a row……….except for blinking, of course.

She had done close to everything to get her inner restlessness and anxiety under control: cleaning up, drawing, making a list of crayons she was out of, cleaning out old magazines………..nothing had worked and she would feel like an idiot, if she called somebody at this time of the day. She had put the phone on the small table next to the armchair, though. Just in case.

_What's wrong with me? Why am I acting like this? Brian is okay, he has to be okay. Maybe the paper's already here, the politicians will certainly make me sleepy._

So Lilly got up – again - and trotted into the kitchen. Looking out of the window, she saw the dark water of the Atlantic Ocean that was completely calm, except for a few small waves every now and then. The beach was still empty and cars were rare in the early hours of the morning. Lilly switched on the radio and listened to the speaker talking about the weather. Hot with a light breeze coming from the east. Perfect, just perfect.

_Ocean Drive. That would have been great today, but without Brian……….well, another day. _

Lilly couldn't see, if the paper had already been brought, but she didn't really care. It wouldn't distract her anyway. So, she took a bottle of water from the fridge and walked back into her room.

_1001,_ she thought while bending down to pick up her "work-bag" which she had laid on the floor after having come home. Putting the bottle on the table, she sat down in her armchair – again - and opened the bag. Searching through it, she found her agenda and opened it as well.

_Timetable, examination dates, personal notes, holidays, results, addresses, birthdays………oh, great, next week, I'll be on my period. Life sucks!_

She placed the small book next to the bottle on the table, before continuing her search for anything that might distract her a little. Suddenly, she held a small packet in her right hand. A packet of cigarettes. Looking inside, she saw that it was still half-full.

Lilly wasn't addicted or anything, sometimes, she just smoked to calm herself down a little. She had started to do this a couple of years ago, when Brian and she had been separated. Although her foster parents had been very nice people, Lilly had always felt torn without actually knowing why. At that time, it had been _cool_ for children her age to smoke. She hadn't cared what others had been thinking about her, nevertheless, she had tried it and she had come into a habit: only smoke when you're really close to hysterics. That was the rule she had made for herself and it had been working rather well since then. Except for smoking, there was only one other thing that could calm her down: dancing. Her foster mother had introduced the whole concept of dancing to Lilly due to her giving dancing courses at the local dance school. They had started with ballet. The girl had learned that dancing demanded her full attention, not even her drawings did that. A drawing depended on the artist's mood, dancing didn't. It depended on the mood of the artist who had created the music. So, to distract herself at troubled times without getting cancer, Lilly went to a local dance school. In Miami, it was "The Club", they offered all kinds of courses and she had already tried everything. Salsa, Tango, Modern, Ballet, Hip Hop, even Belly Dancing……….. everything. Maybe she would go there this afternoon. These guys even opened on Sundays.

Brian knew nothing about it. Neither about her smoking, nor about her dancing. Or perhaps he did and didn't say anything, but that would be rather unusual. Lilly didn't want her brother to worry about her, she couldn't always run to him whenever she had a problem. It was one of the many "growing up-things".

She put the packet back into the bag, now wasn't the right time for a cigarette.

**************************

Brian rolled his eyes. He sat in front of a table with a telephone on it, across from him was Bilkins, also sitting on a chair, while Markham and Agent Dunn were preparing a recorder.

"You can't be serious",he looked at Bilkins, who shrugged.

"Either like this or you don't get to call her at all."

"Alright, alright",Brian shook his head in disbelief,"but you're completely silent."

"Manageable", Bilkins answered. Markham snorted and mumbled something that sounded like "should better be grateful".

Brian picked up the receiver, dialing a number. Holding the receiver close to his ear, he eyed the three men around him warningly.

**************************

The phone rang. The phone rang!

Lilly almost jumped in her armchair before answering the phone standing next to her. With a slightly trembling hand, she reached out and picked up the receiver.

"Yeah?" Her voice sounded somehow shaky while she was praying that it was Brian.

"Hey, baby",Brian smiled. His sister sounded so sleepy,"did I wake you up?"

"Bro? No, no, you didn't. I haven't slept all that well",she tucked a few blond strands behind her ear,"where are you bro? Are you alright? Did anything happen to you?"

Bilkins grinned. That was the kid he remembered.

"I'm fine, please don't worry, I'm okay",Brian swallowed. _Now the not so pleasant news_.

"Why do I get the feeling that there's a but?"Lilly knew that her brother wasn't telling her everything, otherwise her restlessness would have been gone by now.

"Because there is one",the man bit his lower lip,"I've got a job and it's possible that I won't be coming home today and maybe even tomorrow." Bilkins frowned and received a glare from Brian that asked him, if he liked to explain the situation to Lilly.

"A job? What kind of job?" The girl's stomach contracted. She had a very bad feeling.

"I told you not to worry",Brian chuckled……..as did Bilkins. For a moment, there was silence on the other side of the line. The blond man cursed innerly, glaring at his former friend.

"This can't be………..",Lilly shook her head slightly no, not believing what she had just heard: Bilkins. The deep sound of Bilkin's voice. How could this be? She knew how this could be: they had caught her brother. He was at a police station right now, she was his only call…………..she didn't know how to react: should she cry, yell, curse? What was she supposed to do? They would separate them again, Brian would be sent to jail. This wasn't happening. She had to be dreaming this nightmare.

"Baby? Lilly, please. Are you okay? There's no need to worry. Like I said, they offered me a job, everything's going to be alright, I promise. Lilly?"Brian's heart beat faster, Markham and Dunn regarded Bilkins who shrugged while eyeing the young man opposite to him, looking somehow scared. He knew how much O'Conner cared for his sister.

"Wha……what kind of……….of job do you have to do?"The girl was completely taken aback, her mind racing like the Skyline itself.

"I have to help them with someone's arrest. Are you okay?"

"Do you expect me to be okay?"A heavy sigh on Brian's side of the line. "Right, bro, I'm not okay. Who's this someone? How high are chances that you survive this _job_? What's gonna happen if you can't arrest _someone_? Let me talk to Bilkins, please, I know he's there",Lilly didn't expect her brother to tell her everything she demanded to know, so she took the opportunity to ask the black man who would be more talk-active.

"Lilly, you…"

"Now, bro!"

"You heard her, O'Conner", Bilkins said smiling, already reaching out to take the receiver from Brian biting his lower lip. 

"Hello, Lilly, how you doing?"He asked politely.

"Oh thanks, I'm fine", she answered sarcastically, rolling her eyes,"details, Bilkins, quick. I'm not in the mood for games right now. And don't care for any kinds of signs Brian might give you, I'm old enough to hear the truth."

"I missed you to, girl",the man grinned as Brian folded his arms in front of his chest, looking determined and furious at once. "So, we need that brother of yours to help us with Carter Verone's arrest. Laundering, drugs - you know that kind of stuff, don't you? The idea is that Brian's supposed to be a streetracer working for him. That's pretty much it."

"What will happen, if you can't arrest this Verone?"

"If we can arrest him, you're brother's record will be cleared. If we can't…….."

"He's going to visit the _zoo_",Lilly breathed out deeply. She still hoped that she was merely dreaming. "How about the Skyline? Everybody knows it's Brian's car. If  Verone's clever, he will check out on it. You thought of this yet?" After all, she didn't want her brother to die the minute he met this Verone.

"Course, we did",Bilkins said reassuringly and gave the receiver back to Brian who was reaching out with his arm,"bye, kid."

"I'm _not_ a kid!"Lilly hated the term kid. She was 16!

"No, you're my baby",Brian told her,"and I don't want you to worry. This will work out, I promise. Today, you're going to have some fun with your friends. You won't stay at home. And tomorrow, you're going to school and afterwards to Tej, I'll be coming there, okay?"

"Whatever you do: just be careful."

"I have to go now. I love you, baby."

"Love you, too."

Brian hung up and looked at Bilkins. "Ready to go?"

"Ready to go."

**********************

Lilly hung up and bit her thumb. She didn't wake up. So this wasn't a dream. _Shit_. Now, she was close to hysterics. Grabbing her bag, she took out the packet of cigarettes and opened the window of her room. Outside, there was a small platform because of the fire escape. She sat down on the stairs, the light of the rising sun throwing her shadow against the wall. Lilly lit a cigarette and took a deep drag. Breathing out the smoke, she looked over the street under her, not caring that she didn't wore anything except for a T-shirt and panties.

"I don't trust this",she whispered before taking another drag.

**********************

Thanks for reading!

Reviews? Any? Please? Yeah? Reviews? 

              


	9. Family Reunion

I still haven't thought of a new title and summary. MIST!

Special thanks out to all the reviewers!!!

**You're so nice to me** _insert sob_

Have fun reading this chapter.

May I beg for some more reviews??

Please?

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Family Reunion

Checking the hood of Jack's '93 Toyota Supra, Lilly's thoughts drifted back to the night this car had been damaged. The night in which her brother had been caught by the cops, the FBI………whatever, it didn't change the facts all that much. She had smoked three cigarettes since yesterday morning, her personal best since they had settled in Miami five months ago. 

Opening the hood to take a look at the engine, the girl sighed. She had tried to distract herself with almost everything: developing new designs which she had given to Suki not even half an hour ago, going to "The Club", going to "C.T.O.", short for "Check this out", a great shop which met the demand of every artist in town………..nothing had worked for more than 30 minutes. Every single time Lilly saw something familiar, she had to think and worry about her brother…………at first. By now, she was kind of angry with him for disappearing and giving her the strangest call ever. What had he been thinking? _I don't want you to worry_. Sure! If she ever did the same to him, he would go insane with worry and ground her until she was 21! 

"Yo, honey",Jimmy walked over to her,"the car okay?"

"Yeah",she shut the hood with one hand and regarded the young mechanic,"got anything else to do?"

Lilly hated wasting her time by waiting for something or _somebody_, she was a person who liked to be rather busy than bored and because of her not having to spray a car, she had asked Jimmy, if he would need her help.

"Sure",he pointed at a car that was on a lift in the far back of the garage,"could you install the neons? Jeremy says it's urgent and I don't have any time."

The first time Jimmy had met the young blond girl had been five months ago, he hadn't exatcly known what to think of her. She had looked like some ordinary pretty 15-year-old to him, nothing special. While Brian had been talking to Tej, she had walked around and taken a look at everything and nothing in particular until she had stood under one of the lifts with a car on it.

"Brake leads",she had whispered and attracted Jimmy's attention. He had stood merely a few yards away from her.

"They've just been exchanged",he had told her, already thinking that the girl knew next to nothing about cars.

"Of course, they've just been exchanged",Lilly had answered him sarcastically without taking her eyes off the car,"and that's why they're going to fail the next time someone slams on the brakes."

"What are you talking, girl?"Jimmy hadn't been able to believe what she had said. One of his best had repaired the car.

"Well, look at this, if you think that I'm lying",the blond had pointed at the bottom of the car and made Jimmy come over. The mechanic hadn't trusted his eyes the moment he had seen the leads: there had been a slight cut through them, not enough to make two pieces out of one, but nevertheless, the cut had been deep enough to tear the leads completely apart once somebody would have slammed the brakes really hard.

"So?"Lilly had folded her arms in front of her belly, regarding him curiously. He had apologized to her and had immediatley searched for Miguel, the guy who had _repaired_ the car. Eventually, he had found out that Miguel had been to race against the owner that night and Miguel had lost his job. 

By now, Jimmy trusted the girl and her skills. She was nice to have around because she wasn't just some ordinary _girly-girl_. Lilly could tell him every single detail of a car and knew at the same time what it actually meant.

"Urgent, as in _really _urgent, or urgent, as in I can still drink a Coke before I start?"

"The latter",Jimmy laughed, seeing the teenager walk away,"but one for each of us, too!"

"Kay",Lilly called over her shoulder. _Each of us_ were Alex, Diego, Marco and Jimmy himself aka the whole male crew, although the girl didn't have any problems with the guys. They were all nice and she could cope with their sometimes rather crude humour. She went into the small office, bent down in front of the mini-fridge and took out five bottles of Coke and two of Corona. Leaving the office, she put the Coke on the floor next to the door and went outside to where Tej and Suki were. 

Tej was yelling something into his megaphone and Suki's chair was empty except for the few sheets of paper showing Lilly's latest designs. The girl greeted the people she knew and gave the bottles in her left hand to a grinning Tej.

"That's my sprayer",he put the bottles on the ground in front of him while eyeing Lilly,"looking very hot today."

"Whatever",she shrugged, though it was true: she had dressed up today only to annoy Brian. She wore tight light blue jeans which were ripped and clung low under her hips, revealing her navel and her slightly muscular belly, while the top was white cotton, also very tight, sleeveless and ended just a few inches, not more than three, under her breasts. Due to the outfit's coulours being rather light, her skin appeared even more bronze. Brian would have a heart failure when seeing her outfit and he deserved it.

"Going to make your bro all crazy",Tej was still grinning. It amused him to see the usually relaxed and completely cool Bullitt as some kind of nervous wreck only because his little sister was wearing something really sexy. Tej himself didn't mind how the girl dressed, as long as the men around here treated her with the respect that she deserved. He knew exactly that if he ever found out about somebody touching Lilly against her consent, this person would have to suffer. Having Tej Parker against one was the worst thing that could happen to somebody in Miami because Tej had connections…………and he would use them, if necessary.

"By the way, where's Bullitt? Haven't seen him since Saturday night."

"You better ask him to explain this to you, Lord knows, I won't!"Eyeing the jet-skis, she suddenly questioned,"who's up next?"

"Donna, Thomas, Charly 'n Ray, but what's up with your bro? He cool?"Tej started wondering why Lilly didn't want to talk about her brother. Was it possible that they had had an argument?

"Three large on Ray",the blond grabbed into her pocket and took out several bills. Counting them, she continued,"Brian's going to come round anytime soon, I think. If you got any questions, you'll have to ask him. All I kow is that he's better thought of a good excuse for his actions before facing me."She gave Tej the money and walked back into the garage. The young man shook his head while Suki came back and sat down on the chair next to him. Turning over to her, she shrugged and he went back to his _work_.

Picking up the five bottles of Coke from where she had placed them, Lilly approached the mechanics and gave each of them one.

"Caderas monas",Diego whistled.

"Cómo encantador",the girl smiled, while opening the bottle in her hand with her teeth for what she gained some more whistles and compliments before she went to start with Jeremy's car.

It was a Toyota Celica GTR – not bad, but no serious competition for the Skyline.

_And there we go. Let's just think about Brian's attitude again. Man, I didn't know my bro had such bad habits._

She opened the carton with the wanted neons and took the item out, when she realized that she had forgotten to ask Jimmy something.

"Hey, Jimmy! Does Jeremy want his neons three-sixty, sides or merely front 'n back?"

"Three-sixty!"The young man called back, his face hidden behind an opened hood.

Taking another sip from her Coke, Lilly looked over to the drive of the parking lot in front of the garage and she almost choked: Brian was just driving onto the lot, but he wasn't sitting behind the steering wheel of the Skyline, instead, he drove a 2002 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 7! This car wouldn't be on the American market till February………._next year_, of course. Behind her brother, a black man whose face was somehow familiar to Lilly drove a Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder, with a spraying Lilly would have to check out soon because it made her fingers itch. Frowning, she stayed in the back of the garage, making sure that her brother wouldn't and hadn't seen her. Why did she seem to know the guy in the Spyder? He was about Brian's age, rather tall, muscular, no hair, vivid eyes…………..this couldn't be! Roman Pearce? Was it possible? The last time, she had seen her surrogate brother, had been about six or maybe even seven years ago. Nevertheless, as she heard the deep voice, this somehow raspy laughter, she couldn't suppress a tear leaving her right eye. Rome was back! Rome was in Miami! He wasn't………… wasn't he supposed to be in jail? 

Lilly sat down on a small pile of tires, feeling totally confused…………._again_. While thinking, she started to move her small silver earring which was pierced into the upper quarter of her left ear.

Rome had been sent to jail for owning eight cars which had been hot! How was it possible that he was actually here? This was Roman Pearce, Brian had just introduced him to Jimmy! 

She needed a smoke! But she couldn't do this in here, because if her brother found out……………was it legal to ground someone till his, or her, 25th birthday?

_Oh, well, this would be my fourth one within less than 48 hours. I better do without!_

*********************

"Hey, Tej Parker? This is Roman Pearce",Brian introduced the men to each other, before he told Rome why knowing Tej was such important a thing. He then bent down to get his "hello-kiss" from Suki.

"What's going on, Suki?"

""What's up, baby?"

"How you doing?"

"I'm good."

"What's this? What's the latest?" Seeing the papers in Suki's hands, Brian felt himself getting somehow nervous and excited due to them reminding him of Lilly. On the one hand, he hoped that she wasn't mad at him - that's what made him nervous – but on the other hand, he wanted to see the sparkling in her beautiful eyes once she saw the Evo.

Suki turned the paper she had just been regarding around to show it to Brian and Roman.

"Chica gave them to me because she just wanted me to be absolutely sure that I really want the dragon-design. But now",she shrugged, pointing her index-finger at the paper she held in her hand,"I'm not so sure anymore. Although she says it's a work in progress, that it's not finished yet, I can see this is gonna be great. The girl got talent, Bullitt."

"She's right, man",Roman had never seen anything like these designs before,"that's some hot artistic shit there."

After having collected the money he had just won, Tej stood up and while talking to Rome, he also noticed that Brian was looking around as though he was searching for somebody.

"Hey, Tej. Check this out",the blond man tried to sound relaxed, although innerly, he was wondering where his sister was,"Rome's gonna be in town a while. Can he use that boat?"

"What's wrong with your place, hm?"Tej thought to understand and nodded while grinning."Fraid cause of Chica? I tell you, man, right now, she's on bad terms with you, so you better be careful."

"Nah",Roman couldn't believe that Brian had a girlfriend. He had just flirted with that Customs-babe,"I don't wanna stay with him. He's got bad habits, man."

"All right, man, whatever. Show him around. I'll be up there in a minute",Tej waited until the men had gone and then walked into the garage, looking for Lilly. He found her somewhere in the back, installing a neon.

"Hey, baby",he put his hands into his pockets and regarded the girl curiously.

"Hey, boss",she answered without taking her eyes off her task,"Ray been a good boy?"

"You bet",Tej smiled brightly as he gave her six thousand dollar which she put into her pocket without actually looking.

"Your bro's here",Tej finally said and was astonished that the girl didn't react at all.

"Really? And there I thought it was just the two of us",Lilly replied rather sarcastically, taking her hands slowly away from the neon light to check, if it really held.

"You know what I mean, girl. He's outside",moving his head into the direction from where Suki's voice came. 

"Tej",Lilly sighed, thinking about how to explain the situation to her friend,"have you ever been sick with worry? Did it ever happen to you that you couldn't eat, or sleep, or do anything, just because you were worried about someone?"She looked him straight into the eye:"I was Tej. For the last two days. Since I came home on Saturday night, I haven't slept for more than a couple of hours, I haven't eaten anything except for some fruit and candy and even then, I wanted to throw up. I was sick with worry, Tej. Brian is everything I have left, everything, do you understand that? It has always been the two of us, he was………still is my dad, my mom, my brother, my friend. Just imagine that something is wrong with a person who means so much to you and you don't know what it is. All you can do is to wait and to wait and to wait some more. I smoked three cigarettes since yesterday morning Tej, three. And now, he comes back with some new car and expects me to be okay? This………I don't work that way, Tej, and I won't pretend otherwise. Can you understand me?"

"Three cigarettes?"The black man moved a little forward and hugged the younger girl. He was the only one who knew about Lilly smoking and he would never trait her trust in him. What she had just told him made him realize even more how different Brian and Lilly were from all the other siblings he knew.

"But you can't just not talk to him",he told her while letting go,"check this out. I'll go out there right now to meet up with your bro and his guest, kay? If you are not outside within five minutes, I'll send him inside."

"Organising 'n collecting, huh?"Lilly cracked a smile. "Okay, just tell him not to grin like an idiot, otherwise m gonna yell at him."

"He won't be grinning, least not after having seen how hot this outfit is",the man left the garage and left Lilly the five minutes to think about coming out or staying inside. It was only fair that she got to choose the battlefield. Stepping outside, Tej saw Jimmy, Suki, Brian and Roman all standing in front of the Spyder, talking about GPS.

"Yo, Bullitt",he finally said when he stood next to Suki,"tell me something, man, cos Chica won't. Do I even wanna know, where the Skyline is, dawg? Or where you've been for the last couple of days or where the hell you got these rides from?

"They're hot",Suki smiled.

"Yeah, they hot",Jimmy shook his head,"wired so hot, anyone tracking these things will know every time, if you wear your seat belt."

"All right, Jimmy",Brian sighed,"just do what you can do, bro."

"I got you",shutting the hood of the Spyder, the mechanic took a good look at the spraying,"Lilly's gonna flip when she sees this."He then walked back into the garage.

"Lilly?"Roman looked confused at Brian who grinned. Was it really Lilly? The cute little girl Roman had often told bed-time stories? She had to be around 16 by now.

"Thought I left her in L.A.? Nah, she's here, man",the blond man said convincingly.

"You have to see this",the group heard Jimmy's voice when he stepped out into the sunlight, followed by a certain 16-year-old who was shaking her hips a little more to drive her older brother crazy………… punishment à la petite soeur.

"Not bad",she eyed the Spyder from the side across to the others and opened the hood to look inside. Cocking her head to the side, she raised one eyebrow: "Would be better without all the wires, but, all in all, not bad."

"You're kidding me, right?"Rome laughed. This couldn't be the small girl he remembered. This was a beautiful young woman in front of him, yet, these blue eyes, these high cheekbones, the blond hair that was slightly curled. "Kitten's aaaalll grown up."

Lilly laughed, too. Rome had called her _Kitten_ since the day they had met. She didn't know why, he had just done it and she didn't mind. It was just a nick name like _Chica_ or _Baby_. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see that Brian's jaw was still dropped down.

"Hugs me",she pleaded Rome and held her arms out before she was crushed against his chest.

"Oh, man",the man kissed her forehead,"you look so pretty, Kitten, soooo pretty."

"What the………I mean………how……",Brian was totally out of it, he just kept on regarding his younger sister.

"You're not the one to make any demands, bro!"Lilly let go of the embrace and stepped right in front of her brother, her eyes narrowed. "How dare you not telling me what's up? How dare you not calling me? How dare you being so rude? Did it, merely for one single second, ever occur to your mind that I might be worrying?!"

Brian looked away. He couldn't stand it when Lilly was mad at him, she had the right to, though. Lord knows, what he would have done, if she had disappeared for two days without doing more than giving him a call. He felt bad for worrying her.

"M sorry, baby",he bit his lower lip, already knowing that he wouldn't get away this easily. 

"Do you really think that _m sorry, baby_ is going to fix this?"Lilly cocked her head to the side, still looking at her brother's face. "I don't. I was worried about you like I never was before. You're always telling me that I shall call even if I'm just an hour or two too late, while you are, like, two days too late without calling or anything. _Two days_, Brian, this is just…………..why do I have to play after different rules than you do? Because you're older than me, so what? Does this mean that you've got the right to worry the shit outta me whenever you feel like it? I don't think so."

She had called him Brian. She never called him Brian unless she was really mad at him or damn serious about something. In this case, the blond man thought that it was both.

"You're right, but you have to look at this from my point of view, too",he gently grabbed her hips and leaned his forehead against hers, looking her straight into the eyes,"this is my only chance to keep you, baby. If this works out the way it's supposed to, I won't be locked up and my record will be cleared. No more playing hide and seek. We will be able to stay here……….legal. An ordinary life……...well, except for the racing. This is our only chance not to be separated and I'm not going to waste it. I know that I should have told you everything, but the day I called I wasn't sure, if this chance was merely fake or not………I didn't want you to start hoping before I was completely convinced. Now, I'm pretty much sure that this is real and I'll tell you everything I know. If you want me to, that is."Brian laid his cheek against her forehead, caressing her hair. It felt to him as if Lilly was slightly shivering, so he pulled her a little closer to him.

Suki, Tej and Roman had already gone into the small office to drink a beer. Jimmy had returned to his work. They all knew that the siblings needed some time alone to discuss things.

"Promise me never to do anything like again",Lilly could understand her brother and that made it impossible for her to be angry with him any longer. In his place, she would have done the same.

"I promise, baby",Brian kissed her left temple,"I promise."

Leaning her head against the area between his chest and shoulder, Lilly saw that on the other side of the street two older man were sitting in a Cadillac, as if they were surveilling Brian and her.

"Hey, I got an Evo",the man thought that his sister was looking at his new car and he could just as well use it as some kind of peace offer.

"I know",she answered, never taking her eyes off the Cadillac,"you made friends with the guys in the Cadillac over there?"

"No",Brian turned his head slightly into the direction Lilly was looking,"they've been on Rome and me ever since we left Verone's house."Letting go of her waist, Brian was already planning: "Rome and I are going to take care of them while you go back to work. We'll meet at home around six and order in some food, okay?"

"Be careful",she told him while they were walking side by side back into the garage.

"I will."Brian jogged into the office and Lilly went back to Jeremy's car, cursing innerly that she couldn't be mad at her brother anymore.

_Well,_she sighed_, at least, he hates my outfit!_

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There are four Spanish words in this chapter and I want to explain what they actually mean – a friend who learns Spanish told me their meaning, so, if you know that the spelling or anything else is wrong with them, just correct me.

Caderas monas – Nice hips

Cómo encantador – How charming        


	10. Thoughts

I hope that you will have fun reading this chapter! I won't be home for the next couple of days, so the next update might take a week…………….sorry.

Thank you for all the reviews, they really encouraged me to keep up with this fic!!

Review?

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Thoughts

"Bro?"Pulling the key out of the lock, Lilly stepped into the small hall of their apartment. No answer. Brian wasn't at home, yet. The girl shut the door behind her back and walked into her room where she put her bag on the armchair and sat down on her bed to take off her shoes and socks which Lilly threw into the nearest corner. Looking at her window she thought about opening it and smoking a cigarette on the fire escape, but eventually, her conscience told her that she couldn't do that again, so she merely opened the window, leaning her forearms on the windowsill to look outside, a little breeze playing in her hair. The noise of the city seemed to calm her down, at least for a couple of minutes, she then started thinking about her brother's behavior.

_What am I supposed to do, now? I'll just have to listen to him, that's it. I can't do anything else except for listening to him. I can't change his mind, he has already made his decision. He would never allow me to do such thing, that's for sure. Actually, I don't wanna know what's exactly going on, it would only make me feel worse. He says that everything's going to be alright, I'm not so convinced, though. I mean…………I don't want to see my brother in Chino but neither do I  want to see him lying in a coffin. That would be hell. Utter hell. Why can't we just be some ordinary siblings? I will even do without the racing, if that's what it takes. No more hide and seek…………..why did Brian become a cop? Couldn't he just become a mechanic? Then, we wouldn't have all of these problems which only seem to get worse every day. I don't wanna lose my brother! There has to be some way out of this! The job is dangerous, that's why Bilkins wanted Brian, because he knew that my bro would do it without thinking about it. So, maybe there is nobody as good as my bro – present company excepted – still, they could have taken one of their own, at least for the role of Brian's partner. Rome is a great driver, he taught me how to hot-wire a car when I was barely eight years old, for God's sake! Nevertheless, he is hot-headed, way too impatient for his own good, this could get both of them, him and Brian, into serious problems. Of course, Brian sees all of this as a certain kind of second chance for their friendship, he wants it to be the way it was before he became a cop and before Rome was locked up and before……………….before Dad began to beat me up. How I wished that this was possible, but it isn't. Brian will never be able to forget what the police taught him, a part of him will always stay a cop. Rome will never be able to forget what the time in jail taught him, a part of him will always stay a prisoner. What about me? I guess that I'll never be able to forget my father, how drunk he was that night. It was late night. There was piercing thunder and garling lightning. I knew that I should have stayed  in my room. My father didn't favour cowards. Nevertheless, I walked down the stairs to drink some milk. At that time, I still remembered my mother very well………..better than I do today. She always told me to drink something whenever I couldn't sleep. But I never made it into the kitchen.   His fists taught me what pain was, that it was useless to scream or to cry and a part of me will always stay the small child, scared of thunderstorms, of yelling men, incapable of defending herself. I never talked to Brian about this night, never. I don't know why. I think I'm just scared to remember the fact that I was so helpless………….so useless. Why wasn't I able to do anything on my own against him? He was drunk, not aware of certain surroundings………….. I could have escaped………..perhaps. But it was other people who helped me………….I didn't do a thing to get my father behind bars, I did nothing._

_That's why Anders' words hurt so much. You can't win by yourself. He's right. It's my brother who helps me to win, it's always been him. I drive his cars. I win because his cars are better than all of the others. I'm not going to ask Brian, if I can drive the Evo. To be honest, I don't wanna drive races anymore while I got this damn Anders in the back of my head, telling me that I'm useless………reminding me of Dad. Maybe I should try to do without races for a while, getting some distance might give me the time to develop new interests. I don't wanna race tonight…………..I don't wanna race anymore. _

Checking her watch, Lilly saw that it was almost seven o'clock, so she decided that she could just as well take a shower while her brother was……………somewhere.

She thought about going to "The Club" tonight as she lowered a towel on the ground in front of the tub of the middle-sized bathroom. Locking the door to keep any unexpected visitors out, Lilly turned up the radio standing on the lowest of the three shelves they had fixed soon after having moved in. She took off her clothes and laid them properly on the chest of drawers that stood under the shelves and then sat down on the edge of the tub, taking the showering head into her left hand while she turned on the water with her right hand. Standing up, Lilly shut the shower curtain and held her hand under jet of water to feel its temperature. The liquid was hot, it hurt a little when it touched her skin but she didn't mind. Sometimes, Lilly needed something that would distract her from her problems, even, if it was merely for ten minutes. Shutting the world out, forgetting about all of her troubles.

Yesterday, Sam had phoned her to tell her that his father had received an offer from the enterprise he was working for. Sam's father had been given the opportunity to built up a completely new five-star hotel…………..in New York, so the family would have to move. Sam had said that he had liked her to know because he hadn't wanted to hurt her feelings…………..that he had been sorry.

That had been her second cigarette that day.

The water burnt on her skin but she didn't hiss through her teeth, she just continued to wash her hair, her body. The pain distracted her from her restlessness, her fear………….everything that hurt from the inside. She would have to go to "The Club" tonight. It was Monday evening and they offered each Monday, Wednesday and Thursday special courses which lastet longer than the usual ones. Tango. Today, she felt like tango. Fast steps, her partner's breath on her skin, the rhythm of the music………… tango it was.

Maybe, Will would be there. He was her favorite dancing partner because he wasn't just some show-off who was all riled up. At 6'2, he was rather tall and his body was in perfect shape, muscular but at the same time very flexible. His dark liquid eyes always sparkled when he danced. He shaved his head and would wear a headscarf, if he hadn't. Will was 24, a little younger than Brian and his skin was the deepest black Lilly had ever seen while his teeth were flashing white. She really liked Will due to him not being like all of the others. Most men who danced things like salsa, tango or waltz were either horny jerks or snobbish scrubs. When she had gone there for the first time to dance salsa, it had been merely Will and Raymond who had wanted to dance with her, because Lilly hadn't bothered to wear a dress………….she never wore dresses. Everything she needed was a pair of high-heels, nothing else. She didn't mind that an older man like Will would come so close to her body…………..he was gay! He lived together with his boyfriend in an apartment a few miles away from Tej's garage. They had two cats and were a really cute pair. Unfortunately, Will's boyfriend, Thomas, claimed that he had two left feet and that was why he wouldn't dance with Will. 

Feeling the water burning down her back, Lilly felt released. At least she had a plan for tonight and that was way better than having no plan at all.

************************

Opening the door of their apartment, Brian already heard the sound of running water. So, his sister had to be taking a shower. He shut the door and went into the kitchen where he stopped directly in front of the sink. Regarding the tap, an evil grin tucked at the corners of his mouth.

_Turning on or not turning on. Making Lilly hate me by stealing her all the warm water or being an adult. Hard question. Though………..perhaps I really shouldn't, it wouldn't be right to joke around like this after I've been disappeared for almost two days. I better wait for her to come out of the bathroom, then, we order……..what do we want to order? Some Chinese? Nah, I want some real stuff. Pizza, yeah, that sounds good. We didn't have any for…………three weeks. Lilly was so busy during the last two months: lots of homework, projects, exams, I'm totally pleased with the fact that, by the end of the next week, her vaction finally begins. Rome and I will be free men……….this summer's gonna be great. I'll have to search for a new car, I don't think that they will allow me to keep the Evo. That means Lilly and I will pore over one catalog after another, checking out every possible garage and car sale……………just like we did it last time when I bought the Skyline, it's gonna be so much fun. We haven't spent much time together lately, I don't want her to feel neglected or anything. Only within the last few months since we're here, she has grown up so much, getting more beautiful each day…………gaining more attention from guys each day. Well, this Sam seems to be okay, nevertheless, I don't want her to…………I mean, she's still so innocent! Next year, she's already becoming 17. It's about time that she gets an own car, but she has to make this decision, I can merely watch and pray. I'll ask her, if she wants to drive the Evo tonight, when Rome and I have our little private race with the guys we already met at Verones. I hope that she doesn't yell at me as soon as I tell her about this race. It's better when she doesn't know about my plan. The less she knows, the safer she is, although Bilkins promised me that she wouldn't get involved. I'd kill Verone, if he dared just so much than touching her. He can't be trusted, it's the certain gleam in his eyes whenever he looks at Monica. If he ever looks at my baby that way…………..The water's out. Maybe I should knock and ask her, if I can already order. Good idea._

Leaving the kitchen, Brian heard music coming from the inside of the bathroom, therefore, he knocked a little louder than he usually did.

"Lilly?"

The girl nearly jumped at the sound of somebody knocking on the door due to her not having heard her brother coming home. She had just stepped out of the tub, her long wet hair clinging to her back and was about to grab a towel to dry her body. Calming down, she tought about cracking the "not here-joke", but it didn't seem right to her. "Yeah?"

"How about Pizza?"

"Kay."

"As per usual?"

"Yeah."

_Well, she didn't yell at me, that's good, but she was kind of unwilling to talk more than necessary. Let's see how this works out. Now: order food!_

Lilly stood in front of the mirror above the sink. She had already dressed and was now brushing her hair so that she could wear it in a braid. Her skin was slightly red from all the hot water, she felt better than she had before, though. Hearing Brian ordering Pizza reminded her of the fact that they hadn't had a video or a DVD evening for some time now. They would eat fatty hot Pizza, drink beer or Coke or whatever they had at home, and they would watch almost everything: science-fiction, fantasy, action, horror, comedy…………but no romance, they hated romance.

Looking at her reflection once more to check, if her braid was okay, Lilly opened the door of the room and stepped into the hall.

"What do you wanna drink?"Brian asked from the kitchen where she joined him to take a look at the offer of their fridge. Some Budweiser, Corona, juice, Coke, water, milk. Why did they have so much to drink in there?!

"Mmm……..Coke",she shrugged. If she really wanted to do some tango tonight, she would have to be awake.

"Ya sure?"Brian eyed his sister and she immediately recognized that look: it was his "c'mon, I know you want a beer. I won't be mad at you, if you drink one"-look. A tiny smile appeared on her lips.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I want a Coke."

"Okay",the man took a bottle of Coke and one of Corona out of the fridge, shut the door and they both went into the living-room. Sitting down on one corner of the extremely comfortable couch, Lilly saw her brother smiling at her.

"What?"

"It's nothing", he answered, sitting down as well, placing the bottles on the small table in front of the couch,"it's just………..Rome couldn't believe that you're…………you."

"Confused much",Lilly grabbed her Coke and opened the bottle to take a sip from the dark liquid.

"He couldn't believe that you've grown so much",Brian turned to look at her,"as soon as we've sat together in the Evo, he didn't stop asking questions 'bout you. Within five minutes we had talked more than on our way back to Miami."

"That's………….strange",the girl nudged her brother's side with her toes,"what kind of questions did he ask you?"

"Kinda like……..pretty much everything",Brian shrugged,"school, driving skills, boyfriends………..he missed you."

"I missed him, too",Lilly took a deep breath,"you gonna tell me why he's here?"

"The whole story or the summary?"

"Every single detail."

**************************

"I'm done",the girl said, having just taken the last bite of her piece of pizza,"so tonight, you'll win these guys' cars and then what? Want me to give them a new spraying?"

"No, you don't have to",Brian took a sip of his Corona,"you can come with me, though. I don't want the new cars to be wrecked after just having won them. We need good drivers."

"So take Tej 'n Suki",Lilly shrugged. She wasn't planning on going to some race tonight, she wanted to go dancing, but her brother just looked at her, a little confused.

"C'mon, baby",he grinned, thinking that she was joking,"you haven't driven the Evo, yet. This would be your chance. I know you want to."

"Not everything is about cars, bro",had she really just said that? Lilly saw a spark of hurt in her brother's eyes and came up with an explanation for her not wanting to join him tonight,"Crash asked me to check out this new jazz club with him. I already promised it."

"Oh",Brian looked down, playing the sad one,"okay."

"Stop pouting!"The blond rolled her eyes while her brother grinned.

"Shall I take you there?"

"No, you don't have to", Lilly rose from the couch and picked up the empty carton standing on the table. Carrying it into the kitchen to throw it away, she didn't notice Brian's frown.

_So, she's still mad at me. I'll have to do a lot of begging to make her forgive me. Why can't she understand? I don't want us to be like that, it seems so wrong. Not everything is about cars. That doesn't sound like my baby. I'll take care of that after the job is done, I just have to._

Lilly was already in the bathroom, brushing her teeth. Her hair had dried during the last hour, so she opened the braid to see how she looked.

_Okay,_ she thought,_ I don't need to brush it again._

She would have to go soon. It was 8.15 and the bus which she had to get would come around 8.30. Spitting the "white stuff" – how she called it – into the sink, she washed her lips to get rid of the last bits of pizza and toothpaste. Everything she still had to do was to change and to put her high-heels into her bag, so that Brian wouldn't see them.

Leaving the bathroom, she alsmost crashed into Brian who wanted to take a shower.

_Good, this way, he won't see how I'm dressed._

She settled for tight black jeans which were cut rather low and long, so that they didn't look that good with sneakers but great with high-heels, and a sleveless tight white top, revealing her belly but no part of her décolleté. Putting on her sneakers, she took one last look into the mirror she had in her room and was pleased, then, Lilly grabbed her high-heels and stuffed them into her bag. Opening the door of their apartment, she called: "I'll be back before midnight and don't worry, tomorrow, there is neither a first nor a second lesson. Teacher's ill." And she was gone. Brian stood under the shower, shaking his head and grinning. His sister knew exactly what to say while talking to him.

The bus station was merely 150 yards away from the house, so everything Lilly had to do was to walk around one corner and she could already see the sign. Having arrived at the station, the bus came. Perfect timing.

She always sat somewhere in the middle and due to the ride lasting close to 15 minutes, she had enough time to take off her shoes and sneakers and to put on her high-heels. She was somewhere around 5'10 / 5'11 high when wearing these shoes. They were merely made out of a heel, a sole and four thin straps; three over her toes and one around her ankle, nevertheless, she had paid 40$ for them, but the material was rather good – black leather, no plastic – so the price had been okay.

~~~~~~~~

Having stepped out of the bus, Lilly walked across the empty street, then left and after another 200 yards, she stood in front of "The Club", hearing music coming from the inside and went there to sign up for a course. "The Club" was a three-floor building and there were always people in the halls, either waiting for a course to begin or waiting for somebody or talking………….it was never boring. Lilly greeted whom she knew and then stopped in front of the "reception".

"Hey Mona",she smiled at the black woman sitting behind her desk,"how are the future mommy and her baby?"

"We're fine, I think he's gotten his father's legs, though. Doing a lot of kicking lately, I tell you",she searched in the PC for Lilly's card while caressing her "slightly fat" belly. She was eight months pregnant, now. "Which course?"

"17-3, Tango",the girl replied, hoping that the course wasn't full yet,"Will here?"

"Yep, 17-3, Tango, asked, if you were here, too",Mona never took her eyes off the screen, her fingers tiping,"you still got ten minutes left."

"Thanks, Mona. See you later this week?"

"Of course, if I was to stay at home, I'd only eat more than I already do",the woman smiled,"have fun, girl."

"Thanks, bye",Lilly went through another hall to get to the stairs. 17-3 was on the second floor. In the hall of the first floor, there was a drinks machine, so Lilly chose a bottle of water before she continued her walk to the second floor, where she discovered several familiar faces. Putting the bottle into her bag, she walked into the room on whose door was a sign saying "17". She was looking forward to getting her head clear.

**********************

Brian swallowed. It was around quarter past 12 and Rome and he had just been tested by Verone. Fortunately, Detective Withworth hadn't been hurt all that badly by the rat, nonetheless, this kind of torture had been completely new to Brian. Monica had already gone and Verone was about to follow her when his mobile rang. He answered it and all of the sudden, his mood seemed to be way better than it had been just a couple of minutes ago. The way he smiled wasn't very pleasant, though, it reminded Brian of a hungry predator.

"Perfect. I'll be there, soon",the dark-haired man said and hung up before taking one of the flowers out of the vase standing next to the door. Looking at the white rose, he said: "They're already wilting. I have to let them be replaced by fresh ones. I always think that it's a shame when they die before having fully blossomed. How about you, Mr. O'Connor, do you have flowers at home? I personally prefer roses, orchids………my favorites are lilies, though. My mother used to keep them in our garden. Beautiful flowers."Putting the rose back into the vase, Carter Verone left the two men in the room to follow Monica. Roman found himself confused.

"What was all that shit about flowers, man?! He some kind of looney, or what?! Tell me, man",looking at Brian, Rome saw that the blond man's eyes were widened in shock, his breath unsteady,"yo, Brian, you there?"

Brian couldn't take his eyes off the small white rose that Verone had held in his hand. He was worried like he had never been before.

"Lilly",he finally managed to breath out before running out of the club. He had to get home! Fast!    

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Did you like it?    

  


	11. Uncertainty

New chapter!! London was awesome!! I love the National Gallery!!! Yeah, I was in London, vacation-you understand? Beautiful city!! I wanna go there again!

Have fun reading this chapter!

Special thanks to all the reviewers-you're great, I really do like you guys……………and girls, of course!

Would you please review?

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Uncertainty

"Fuck you!" Brian yelled at the driver of the Mercedes who had dared to hoot when the blond man had crossed a red traffic light and almost caused an accident..............none of this bothered him, though, everything that bothered him was his sister, that she was at home, that she was safe, that she wasn't hurt or – Brian swallowed – dead. All of the sudden, pictures of the murdered people he had seen while being a cop appeared in his mind, but instead of their dead bodies, he saw his sister lying there, her eyes widened in shock without the beautiful spark of life. He didn't want to imagine what Verone might have done to her, nevertheless, Brian knew exactly that the guy would have to pay for every missing hair, every scratch and every single time he would have looked at Lilly.

Why weren't things working out the way they were supposed to?! He had promised his baby that nobody would hurt her ever again and now this! Was she scared, was she crying, was she.............. Brian was already driving at full speed, overtaking every car in front of him, not caring for accidents he nearly caused, he merely wished that the Evo was faster, that the streets were emptier.................that he hadn't been so stupid to think that Lilly wouldn't get involved! He should have told her not to go out until the job was done, he shouldn't have been so naive to assume that those jerks – Roberto and Enrique – wouldn't tell Verone what they had seen at Tej's garage! It was his fault that Lilly was in danger, everything was his fault!

_Oh God, let her be alive, I could never forgive myself, if she was dead because of me! Perhaps, I shouldn't have taken the job, then, none of this would have ever happened! She's still so young, at 16, your life just begins, it doesn't end. I should have been more careful, I shoud have never left her side, I should...............I love her so much, please don't take her away from me! I could live with us being separated as long as I knew that she was fine and safe. Losing her for a couple of years is nothing compared to losing her for the rest of my life. I couldn't go on with the knowledge that I caused her death. She's my baby, I'm to give my life for her not the other way around. Why isn't this fucking car faster?! Let her be at home, let her brush her teeth..............anything, just be okay, baby! Please be okay, you can't leave me, I won't let you leave me! He is to die! C'mon, Lil, you have to be at home, you have to tell me that I am  an idiot for worrying about you like that! _

"Get lost!" Brian yelled. The driver of the car he left behind had been arrogant enough to think that he had had the right to race the blond man, so Brian had pressed his NOS-buttons to get this jerk back into the real world. His sister would love this car once she had driven it!

_If she's still alive, that is.................of course, she is, she has to be! Verone will let her live as long as I behave, I'll do this job and get her back...........alive and healthy. I hope that she doesn't annoy the hell out of him, he's dangerous, he would kill her in a second. Maybe she's able to run away...............I have to inform Bilkins and Markham about this. Monica! She lives at the compound, it should be easy for her to keep an eye on Lilly.............to protect her from Verone. I pray that he won't touch her. Lil's pretty, her body is not the one of a little girl anymore..................unfortunatley. Touch her and you're dead, Verone! Make her feel uncomfortable and................. I can't think straight! Take deep breaths, concentrate on the road. He merely threatened you, not her, she's alright.............I should have taken her with me to the race! She would have had fun and I could have had an eye on her. Why did she actually go to a jazz club on Monday? Nobody does that! You go on Friday or Saturday when you're under 18, it's like an unwritten law! Jazz club. What's so special about it that she wouldn't wait until the weekend?! Maybe, I should have taken her with me to Barstow, that way, she would have never been mad at me and things might have developed differently. This has to be a nightmare. Please, I wanna wake up, now! At least four more minutes till I'm home…………..four minutes too much! Why are teenagers always so complicated?! Couldn't she have stayed at home to do some homework?! I'm getting insane! None of this is her fault, it's mine, only mine……………let my baby be alright, please!_

Taking the next corner, Brian almost hit another car. The driver cursed and gave him the finger, but the blond man didn't even notice. It wasn't important, all that mattered was Lilly.

"Finally!"He shouted relieved as he saw their apartment-house. Parking the Evo to one half on the sidewalk, Brian jumped out, slamming the door shut without even bothering to lock the car. After having opened the door to the staircase, the young man took three steps at once, his heart hammering against his ribs, his breath hot while icy sweat ran down his temples. 

"Just be there",he murmured as he tried to open the door of their apartment, almost dropping the keys due to his shaking fingers. "Just be there."

Brian stepped inside and immediately opened the door to Lilly's room. She wasn't there.

"Baby?" He called out just to hear his own echo ringing through the emptiness of the apartment. She wasn't there. 

"No",Brian whispered, his voice trembling, while taking another step into the room. Why wasn't she in her bed, sleeping and having a nice dream? He sat down on the edge of her bed, his forearms rested on his knees. This wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening!

"Yo, man",all of the sudden, Roman was standing in the doorway, slightly out of breath. He had followed his former friend as soon as he had understood why Verone had mentioned his interest in _flowers_. Due to Roman not having known yet where Brian and Lilly lived, he had had to race after the blond man. 

"She ain't here, man. She ain't here",Brian shook his head. What was he supposed to do? He couldn't do anything except for waiting on a call, a message…………he felt so useless.

"She done that one?"Roman looked at the wall above the small desk that was covered all over with papers, crayons, pieces of chalk and personal items like photos. On the wall, there was a picture painted directly on the white wallpaper; it showed a beautiful valley with a deep blue lake, two waterfalls sparkling in the sunlight while running down over black rocks. All of this was surrounded by bright green trees and grass, a few white clouds covered the blue sky……………this was a place where Roman would like to be.

"Yeah, she says it frees her mind",the blond man knew that not all of Lilly's pictures were that pleasant, but they were her way of expressing herself, her diary. Lilly didn't wrote diary, she had this  sketch book with a simple black cover and whenever she thought of a situation or a day as worth to be remembered, she would draw a picture into the sketch book and name it after the day. Brian had never seen any of those drawings, they were private and he respected that. If his sister felt like showing them to him, he would pull her into his lap and regard them together with her, but if she didn't, he would be fine, too.

"Don't worry",Rome sat down next to Brian,"she'll be alright. I know she will."

"Yeah",Brian didn't sound very convinced, though. He looked down at the bracelet around his right wrist which he hadn't wanted to give to Monica. Playing with it, he remembered the day Lilly had given it to him as a present. _I know that it's not a Rolex and you really don't have to keep it, if you don't like it_, he heard her saying,_ it's just that I got an A for that thing, so throwing it away………..you want to keep it or not? It's really no problem, if you don't like it, bro, I can cope with that. _He had hugged her and told her that he loved it. He hadn't lied to her. The bracelet looked good because it wasn't a _feminine_ but a _masculine_ one. His sister liked working with her hands, she seemed to have talent in them like one of her art teachers had said once.

_Let her be alright. Oh Lord, I beg you that she's alright. Have an eye on her while I can't, will you? She means so much to me, I'll get her back, whatever it might take me._

***************

_So, what's next?! _Lilly thought while tapping the fingers of her right hand on the armrest of the sickening white armchair these _guys_ had placed her in. _Maybe I'll have to sit on this damn thing until I die out of boredom! If my buddies are interested in another round of biting and beating?_ She eyed the men who had brought her here; they had waited for her in their Cadillac and caught her after she had walked across the street to get to the bus station. It angered her that she had been stupid enough not to have noticed them before everything had happened. They had grabbed her from behind and although she had used her fists, teeth and high-heels, the gun that had been put close to her temple had made her give in. Nevertheless, the bald one's left eye was already getting all purple and blue, the scratches on his right cheek which Lilly had caused with her fingernails would be deep violet the next day. The other one didn't look any better: she had bitten his biceps and stepped with full force on his left foot. It appeared as though he was in pain while standing.

_Good, they deserve it,_ Lilly knew that there were several bruises underneath the guys' clothes as well, her brother had taught her a few things after all and she knew that she would have escaped, if it hadn't been for the damn gun! They had driven her to somewhere far away from the city, because she had checked her watch and assumed that there was a distance of at least 15_ – Skyline – _minutes between her and civilization. Lilly hadn't seen much of this place yet, but she guessed that it was Verone's compound. Big garden, richly furnished rooms, faked Monets, Gaugins and Picassos hanging in the halls, so much wood that Green Peace would get a heart failure……………..if Lilly didn't knew whose house this was, she would have been impressed………..maybe, because she hadn't seen anything tasteless in this place, yet. Especially the cars in the drive which she had caught a glimpse of interested her. Ferrari, Porsche, Lotus…………perhaps she could escape in one of them. 

Dancing had been fun. Will had been fun. Everything had seemed to be okay after she had left room "17", but now………….Lilly sighed. _Now, I'm in some strange guy's house and if Brian doesn't work the way he's supposed to, I'll be dead. Life's getting better every day! I need at least a couple of hours to think of a plan………..I don't even know how large this place is and how well it's surveilled, yet. Think, Lilly, you have to think. How could I escape? How could I escape on high-heels? These damn shoes are killing me! Oh great, I'll face the big boss while wearing nothing but some tight jeans and a top………… and, of course, underwear, I'm not into showing him my panties and bra, though! I want  Brian! Why did he have to take this job? Perfect, now, I start whining. Don't be such a sissy! You're old enough to get outta this on your own. It's not Brian's fault that I am here, I could have been more careful. Why doesn't anybody tell me what's going on?! It's not very polite to let someone wait for this long a time! Well, it's still better than getting killed immediately, though._

The sound of a door being opened and approaching footsteps made Lilly turn her head slightly to the side to see a man in his late twenties or early thirties coming through the same door the jerks had guided her through. He was around Brian's and Rome's height, rather slim and muscular, dark hair which was combed back, shaped eyebrows, icy blue eyes, tanned skin, shaven. He wore a dark blue shirt, the top-buttons opened to reveal a silver chain around his neck, black trousers and shoes, a silver ring on his right middle-finger. Clean fingernails. Suki had once told her that every woman would be able to notice all of these things not even within half a second and she had been right. Lilly called it a woman's personal detector – WPD – and right now, hers said _dangerous_ and _extremely arrogant_. If his eyes were be more friendly, not so cold, and the way he walked not so self-convinced, than maybe she would have said that he was good-looking, nonetheless, her detector would have argumented that he was way to old for her……………it would have been right. It was possible that Verone was twice her age. She glared at him as he came closer, having the feeling that he was undressing her with his eyes, but Lilly straightened her back and held her head high, showing even the slightest kind of fear wouldn't be of any advantage for her.

"Miss O'Connor",the dark-haired man smiled all too friendly, as though he thought of the girl rather like a real guest than the prisoner she actually was,"I'm sorry to meet such young and beautiful a lady under these unpleasant circumstances. I hope that your ride was acceptable?" He sat down on an armchair in front of her what made Lilly cross her left leg over her right one. She didn't like him sitting merely a few yards away from her, looking at her _like that_.

"Why don't you ask your employees?"The girl answered exasperated, her anger clearly ringing through. This man was dangerous, she had to be very careful. Verone turned his head to see what Lilly had done to the men he had sent to get her………..and laughed. It was a rich and also icy sound. 

"Extraordinary",he snapped his fingers to gain his employees' attention,"vodka." Then, to Lilly: "What may I offer you?"

"Thank you, but I would prefer an explanation for me being here and not at home where I should actually be at this time of the night."

"Of course",the man took the drink from the bald guy. Taking a sip to taste the liquid, Verone continued, his eyes never leaving Lilly's face,"you see, Miss O'Connor, that I am a wanted man. I have lots of enemies, so it is understandable that I don't like risks. Nevertheless, at times, it is unavoidable to take a risk. This is, where your brother and his partner, Mister Pearce, come into play. It is their job to bring me my money without getting caught by one of my enemies."

"And I'm your guarantee for their success",the blonde finished his sentence for what she – unfortunately – gained another one of _these_ smiles. She watched Verone swallowing down his vodka, asking herself how long she would have to stay in this house……….together with him. The thought somehow scared her, the way he was looking at her sent cold shivers down her spine. Lilly felt that she was acting like a baby, but she really wished to be with her brother or one of the others right now.

"Young, beautiful and intelligent, too",Verone almost purred, putting the glass he held in his hand onto a small stool-like table standing next to his armchair,"I'm looking forward to having breakfast together with you."

Lilly swallowed. Had this guy in front of her just said that they would have breakfast _together_?! What was that supposed to mean? Breakfast, as in breakfast after having slept in two separated rooms, or breakfast, as in breakfast in bed after having……………. _NO!_

"I hate to tell you, Mister Verone, but I can't follow your offer",Brian had taught her that she should never show it, when she was frightened of somebody, because it would merely make this person feel stronger, so she acted as if she was made out of pure self-confidence,"I am not a morning-person, so that I wouldn't be any acceptable company for you. I'm sorry."

"And a liar, as well",Verone stood up and crossed the few yards between him and the girl until he was standing right in front of her. Lilly was glad that she had crossed her legs, because suddenly, the man bent down, holding her wrists on both sides of the armrest with a strong grip that didn't quite hurt but wasn't all that comfortable, either.

"You will stay at my house for one and a half days, until 6 p.m. tomorrow evening, to be exact",she felt his breath on the skin of her face and neck. It smelled of alcohol, not only vodka but also something else, and of Cuban cigars. How she wished that she could have a smoke right now! Lilly was innerly close to hysterics. "That means that we will have lots of time to get to know each other a little better",his face was directly in front of hers, merely inches separated them. Lilly tried to pull back, but the backrest forbade her to do so,"I expect you to meet me in the area of the garden where the pool is. Ten o'clock shouldn't be a problem for you."

"And if I don't follow your _invitation _?" Lilly cocked her head to the side, a raised eyebrow underlining her question.

"Who said it was an invitation?"And suddenly, Verone moved forwards and pressed his lips tightly onto the girl's ones. Lilly had, unfortunately and due to the shock, opened her mouth to protest, so that it was easy for the man to slide his tongue inside. The girl did the only thing she could think of: she stepped with full force on one of Verone's feet and used the moment in which he yelped in pain to free one of her hands from his grip only to slap his face with the back of it.

"_Didn't your mother teach you any manners?!_"She yelled at him, wiping her lips with the back of her right hand in pure disgust and was about to stand up and hit Verone once more, after he had stumbled a little backwards due to her slap, but Lilly was stopped by the _jerks_ pointing their guns at her.

"It's okay",Verone told them, rubbing the slightly reddened part of his face. It was possible that he would get a bruise there. "She is merely tired. Guide her to the guest room on the first floor and come back to me afterwards."

Lilly just glared at him but didn't say a word when Verone's employees guided her out of the room, she kept an eye on their guns.

Carter Verone couldn't believe the girl had actually hit him! He took a sip from his forgotten vodka and let the liquid some time to unfold its flavour in his mouth before swallowing it down his throat.

"Juicy",he whispered and licked his lips before the predatory smile appeared once again on them.   

*******************************************************************

I know…………………it's……………maybe the development is somehow strange………………what do you think? Should I rewrite the chapter?

Thanks for reading, hope you had some fun!        


	12. Miami Nights and Dawns

It's been quite a while………..school seems like a bad excuse, though it's the reason for me not updating for so long………that and writer's block.

Hope you'll like this one. I actually didn't want it to be too emotional, but, at times, I think that I kinda, like………missed the spot. Please tell me what you think about it, okay? Cause that would be really really nice, ya kow? And I know that you're nice people, aren't you?

Have fun reading this one!

Miami Nights and Dawns

"Hey!" Lilly yelled once the jerks pushed her roughly into the _guest _room that was meant to be hers for this night. She heard the key being turned around in the lock, the sound of footsteps walking down the hall and finally fading away into the silence of this house. The girl looked around: the room was richly furnished, just like the other ones she had already seen. Wooden floor, a giant wooden wardrobe, a desk, nightstands, dressers, white carpets, paintings, a king-sized bed……….her eyes widened. There, on the white covers of the bed laid her bag. _Her bag._ She had assumed that they wouldn't give it back to her, but there it was………and hopefully, it would still contain her cigarettes!

Her heels clacked on the floor as she went to sit down on the bed and before grabbing her bag to search for the packet of cigarettes, she bent down to take off her shoes.

"That's better",she murmured while flexing and stretching her toes a little. Reaching out for her bag, Lilly didn't even bother to take a look into it, she merely turned it upside down to let everything that was in there fall down onto the covers in front of her. Eying the items to check, if everything she remembered having put into the bag was still there, the girl already picked up the packet of cigarettes.

"Agenda, some tampons, my sneakers, purse, condoms",she cocked her head slightly to the side,"seems like everything's still there." Of course, the blonde had forgotten to take her cell phone with her and now, wanted to kick her butt because of that.

There was a big window to the right side of the bed, but no proper windowsill for Lilly to sit down on. Fortunately, there was a low backed couch standing in front of the window on which the blonde kneeled down while opening the window without having any problems at all. The thought of climbing out of the window and running like hell occurred to her mind, but once she had opened the window, she heard some growling and rustling of leaves coming from the bushes a couple of yards away from the house.

"Shit, he's got some dogs",Lilly bit her lower lip before rolling her eyes. She really could have guessed that herself! Why would her window be open and not locked, if Verone wasn't aware of ways to keep her from escaping?!

She sat down on the soft material the couch was made out of and opened the packet in her hands. A lighter and six cigarettes left. So, she had smoked 13 cigarettes within the last two months……….not all that bad.

Lilly usually smoked whenever she was close to hysterics or on her period………rarely when she was with her friends from "The Club", although Will, Spike and Mouse did it regularly, but, like Sugar said: "If you don't wanna do somethin', then, don't do it. If others wanna do somethin', then, let'em do it. If others want you to do somethin' you don't wanna do, then, kick their asses!"

The blonde smiled. Sugar could always make her smile or laugh, that was why the black woman was her best friend, her heart- and soul-sister.

Lighting the cigarette and taking the first drag, Lilly eyed her left hand in which she held the smoke. She had a – how Spike put it – "bloody sexy way to hol' a fag", it had never really occurred to her until he had said that. Lilly always held her smokes with the left hand, between the tips of her middle and ring finger, because the blonde didn't gave anybody _the finger_, no, she would give _two fingers_, her middle and her ring. It was a strange habit of hers, but she didn't care.

She inhaled deeply and let the aroma of the tobacco some time to unfold its soothing flavour in her lung before breathing it out through her nose.

"How can I get outta here?"She whispered while shifting a little in her position to get a better view on the scene in front of the window.

She was on the first floor, but climbing down wouldn't be a problem for her, down there were some bushes, some trees……..the dogs……..and a little building that seemed to be some kind of garage due to it having three gate-like doors on the front-side. A garage meant cars, cars she could easily hot-wire and then escape with. There was no such thing like a gate in front of the house, at least she had seen none. But how to get down there without anybody noticing?

_Wait a moment_, Lilly rested her elbows on the narrow windowsill and frowned, _all I need to do is to distract them for a little while, I wouldn't need more than two mintues to get into one of the cars standing on the drive and to hot-wire it when everybody else would be occupied with something happening behind the house from where nobody would see me. This building down there might be a garage, a garage with cars in it. Cars mean petrol. I got a lighter_, she turned around to view over the wardrobe, the dressers and the nightstands, _he wouldn't be a good host, if there wasn't any kind of bar in each of his guest rooms, would he?_

With that thought in mind, she finished her cigarette and pushed its end down onto the white windowsill to see the hot ashes leaving a dark imprint on the white varnish. The blonde then closed the window and got up to search for the bottles of alcohol she would need to make her plan work out the way she wanted it to.

"Here, man",Roman placed a bottle of Corona on the table in front of Brian. They had gone into the kitchen, or more precisely, Roman had dragged the blonde man out of Lilly's room to put some distance between him and the familiar items reminding him of the girl. Not that there were no things within the kitchen area which wouldn't do the same, but the black man had figured out that there were at least less of Lilly's personal items than in her room.

"No, I don't need this right now",Brian shook his head no while combing his fingers through his hair. He couldn't stop thinking about his baby. Was she scared? Was she injured? Was she……._with_ Verone? This thought in particular made him want to throw up. Fortunately, Rome was with him, so that he wouldn't do anything he might regret later on.

"C'mon, man, ya need to cool down a little",the man opened the bottle with an opener he had spotted near the sink, then, sat down on the chair opposite to Brian's, taking a sip from the Corona he had opened for himself.

"He's got her and you tell me to cool down?"It was a mere whisper, he was tired and therefore, his voice was quite raspy. Brian felt so exhausted, so helpless. He rested his forehead against the palm of his left hand, his elbow on the table. All he wanted to do was to wake up from this nightmare, to walk into his sister's room and to lay down next to her sleeping form, one arm around her waist just to feel that she was really there and if she woke up, he would pull her closer and tell her to go back to sleep.

"Ya need to cool down, so that we can think of somethin' to get her outta that shit",Roman swallowed down another mouthful of the cool liquid while looking Brian straight into the eye. His former friend looked so different, his whole appearance had changed because of the current situation. The usual spark in his eyes was gone, his eyes themselves seemed to be rather gray than light blue, even the way he sat showed how beat he was………so Roman had to convince Brian that it would be of no use for Lilly, if he didn't snap out of this mood. Of course, he himself was worried like he hadn't been for a long time, after all, it was his _Kitten_ these guys had dared to kidnap and they would have to pay for it, but he would need Brian's help to do this because of him knowing Miami and the people who could possibly help them.

"You're right, bro",suddenly, the blonde sounded very determined and took a sip from his Corona, swallowing it down,"first thing we gonna do, is to contact Markham and Bilkins. They can reach Monica and if Lilly's at the compound, Monica can help us getting her outta there. Then, we gotta work on the cars, build in some extras we need so that things work out the way they're supposed to."

"That's it, man",Rome grinned, nodding his head slightly yes,"they won't know what hit'em."

"I hope so",Brian said while staring out of the window. He always sat with his back to the door, Lilly usually opposite to him so that they could look at each other without having to turn their heads to the side. It was funny, but they didn't sit in the kitchen very often, yet, both of them loved it, because it made things seem more _ordinary_, it reminded them of the time when their life had been more _ordinary_; they would get up early, have breakfast together, at times, Brian would even drive Lilly to school, in the evening, they would eat dinner and talk about stuff………

_We haven't done that in a while, now_, Brian thought, _I don't want us to grow apart, but when it comes down to certain topics like school or her friends, she's……….quiet, as though she doesn't want me to know. Once, that's been different. When Cathy's still been alive. Lilly was better back then, she had somebody she could actually talk to………somebody her age._

When Brian had gotten his sister's custody rights and she had moved in with him, there had been a girl living at the other end of the street. Cathy. She had been Lilly's age and in the same class, as well. Cathy's father had beaten her and her mother who had been living in a new and better relationship for several years when Brian had turned 21. So, the girls had had something in common, something they could help each other dealing with. They had spent every free minute together, stayed over night at he other one's house……….they had done pretty much everything girls from the age of 11 to 14 would have done.

_Lilly's really been better back then. Happier, more willing to trust people and to talk about her problems, but then………..Cathy died. At the age of fourteen. Got shot, although the bullet hadn't been meant for her……….my baby has changed since then. For the worse. It's easy for her to make friends with pretty much everybody, but she doesn't want to, not anymore. She's too afraid of anybody getting that close to her ever again. That's why she never talks about school unless I ask her something. She doesn't want me to worry. Her report card's gonna be decorated with lots of A's and few B's……..maybe she gets straight A's, only to show me that I don't need to worry about her. I'm gonna ask her, if I can take a look at her yearbook, then, I'll know how things are………..how many people have signed it. So, maybe it's not nice to control her like that, but I don't have many other options left. I have to talk to her after all of this is over. She really needs to be more around people her own age._

"Ya still there?"Roman asked while eying the blonde suspiciously.

"Yeah",Brian finished off his Corona with several deep gulps,"just thinking",standing up, he took the empty bottle and put it into the sink,"time to sleep. Couch's no problem for you, is it?"

"Wasn't planning on taking Kitten's bed, if that's what ya mean",swallowing down the last amounts of beer himself,"bathroom and couch?"

"Oh, yeah",the blonde scratched his neck,"bathroom's to the right, couch's in the only room without a door. Can't miss it."

"Thanks",Roman left the kitchen and Brian went to look out of the window. It was deepest night outside, yet, the street lamps which were standing on the sidewalk next to the beach cast a weak light onto the sand and the waves coming out of the black mass of water. Sighing, he turned around to get some covers and a pillow for Rome.

When he opened the wardrobe in his room, Brian caught a glimpse of his nightstand where the short letter-or note? He didn't know-Lilly had written a couple of days ago was still lying.

_Don't be afraid, baby. I'm not going to let anything happen to you, ever. _

The sound of somebody banging on the door made Brian snap his eyes open and jump out of his bed.

_Lilly,_ was everything he could think in that particular moment. His baby might have managed to escape!

But opening the door of their apartment, he saw Monica standing in front of it, wearing a light blue nike-top, some black adidas-hot pants and a pair of sneakers. She ran past him into the hall and he closed the door. Brian could tell by the haunted look on her face that something had happened. Was his baby……….?

"What's it? What are ya doin' here?"He demanded to know immediately. "Where's my sister? Did you see her? She okay?"

"What are you talking about?!"Her expression didn't change, yet, confusion was added to it. "Brian, they're gonna kill you. I heard him telling Enrique and Roberto. Once you finish the run, they're putting a bullet in your head."Monica really didn't understand what Brian's sister had to do with the situation.

"He asked, if our sis is okay",Roman came out of the living-room, already dressed.

"What's that talk about your sister?"Suddenly, Monica's eyes widened in shock, realization hitting her. "He's got her?"

"You didn't know?"Brian ran a hand through his hair. "You sure you heard him right? He really didn't mention her? Not at all?"

"No, I swear."

"Hey",Rome stood at the kitchen window,"Verone's boys is outside."

"They don't know",the woman said as though trying to defend herself,"I snuck out."

"What the hell are they doin' here, then?"

"I don't know. Maybe they're guessing."

"Okay",the blonde man stopped the upcoming argument and straightened his blue shirt he had slept in,"go stall'em",he told Roman,"go stall'em for, like, two minutes."

The black man pointed a finger at Monica: "Check her, homey",before leaving the apartment to meet Enrique and Roberto on the staircase. He grinned when seeing them; it seemed as if _somebody_ had given them quite a hard time: their faces were covered in bruises.

Brian shoved Monica into Lilly's room.

"Alright",the woman raised her hands,"this isn't about being a good cop or doing your job. They're gonna kill you. You gotta pull out."

"You mean that I shall watch how he kills my baby sister instead of me?!"He wasn't yelling, yet, his voice rose a little.

"No, I…..",she could only imagine what the man in front of her was going through. Monica herself didn't have any siblings at all. "I can get her outta there."

"Really?"His eyes were filled with hope while his expression spoke of doubt.

"Yeah",they heard the voices of Roman, Enrique and Roberto getting louder, coming closer.

"Tell me that you don't make that run, Brian. Your sister's fine. I won't let anything happen to her, I promise. Just don't make that run."

Before actually knowing what he was doing, Brian bent down and kissed Monica.

"Take the fire escape and shut the window once you're outside."

"Be careful",she whispered and went to the window while the blonde walked back into the hall and shut the door behind his back. Not even five seconds later, Roman and Verone's boys were standing in front of him and an evil grin cossed his lips.

_No messing with my baby_, he thought when he saw their bruises but then, he got furious because they might have hit her, too, and nobody hurt his Lilly, nobody.

Then, Roberto pulled out his gun from underneath his shirt and pointed it at him and Roman while Enrique started searching through the five rooms of the apartment.

Everything happened very fast. All of the sudden, the men were at each other's throats and Brian yelled at Enrique to put the damn gun that he was holding to Roman's temple down, although the blonde himself had Roberto's head at the end of his gun.

At times like that, Brian was quite content about the fact that the majority of the people living in this building had to work at this time of the day or simply didn't care. That was why he had taken the apartment in the first place: people who didn't care wouldn't cause any problems for Lilly and him due to them not asking questions.

"Enough",a voice echoed through the hall. Brian looked up and there he was, Verone, standing in front of the still opened door,"enough."

Enrique tried to argue but was cut of by his boss. "Shut up. It's over. Come on. It's over. Let's go."

The men let go of each other and while handing the gun back to Roberto, Brian eyed Verone's face. He had a slightly purple bruise on his left cheek.

"If you dared so much than touching her",blue eyes narrowed, showing nothing but hatred and rage.

"Now I see where she's gotten her temper from",Verone smiled at the memory of the girl's hot mouth before she had slapped him,"don't worry, Mister O'Conner, your sister is safe as long as you fulfill your job. Once you finish the run, you get her back. Without one missing hair, of course",he put his hands into the pocket of his trousers. _Such beautful long blonde hair. I wonder, if she's a natural. Well, there are certain ways to find out………….certain **places** to find out……..if she isn't shaven, of course, though………._

"I'm glad to see you boys are getting along so well",he said, his attention focusing back on the situation while his employees were walking past him,"because tomorrow, Roberto and Enrique'll be riding along with you. Just so we don't have any problems. I'll see you guys in a bit." He then turned around and left, closing the door behind him.

Brian was about to run after him, but Roman held him back by blocking the way out of the apartment.

"We gotta think, homey",he told the blonde.

"We need to get Tej",Brian finally nodded, praying that it was the right thing not to have run after Verone.

_I might die doing this, that's okay, as long as she survives. I love you baby, I'm gonna come anf rescue you. I promise!_

Please review………….please?               


	13. Backgrounds

Hi guys! So, this chapter is actually not a chapter – confusing, huh? This is just some Lilly thinking about stuff, I wanted you people to know a little more about her and her life in Miami. That's what came out. The real plot will be coming in the next _real_ chapter.

This is just……….background information, I thought you might wanna know.

Have fun reading it, kay?

Backgrounds

Even though Lilly knew that toweling her hair dry would take a certain amount of time, she did it because of not wanting to search for a blow-dryer through each of the drawers of the three dressers in the middle-sized bathroom that belonged to her _guest_ room. Yesterday evening, or more specifically, earlier this morning, she had been too distracted to even notice that there was a white wooden door leading into another room, the girl had spent her time searching for at least _one_ bottle of alcohol, but in the end……….she had been quite happy when having opened the doors of the giant wardrobe, because there, she had found a whole bar on the midde shelf. Everything to occupy an alcoholic for at least a weekend. Sambuca, Tequilla, Bacardi, Jack Daniels, Scotch……….she had counted 18 bottles.

Nethertheless, before having searched in the wardrobe, the blonde had, of course, already looked into the dressers and the nightstands………and she had felt disgusted by what she had seen in one of them.

Lilly had opened the upper drawer and her eyes had widened in shock: there were some condoms, some lube – strawberry-flavoured lube – some handcuffs and other stuff the girl tried to forget as hard as she could. What kind of pervert had this Verone to be?!

That was why she wasn't willing to open any of the drawers in the bathroom, Lilly thought that she had already seen enough!

Fortunately, there were no windows in the middle-sized room, so that she was completely on her own.

She had locked the door and had taken a shower, a hot shower to get her head clear and to get _Verone_ off her skin. The girl could still feel his breath on her neck and face, his lips on hers, his tongue………she shook her head. _Don't think about that right now, just don't!_

By now, she sat on the edge of the extra-large tub, a huge white towel wrapped around her body while she dried her hair with another one that had laid next to the tub.

It had been seven a.m. when she had woken up after having hardly slept for more than three hours this night.

_Breakfast at ten_, she thought, running a hand through her hair to feel if it was already dry. Playing with one of her blonde locks, she eyed it and remembered Brian saying that he wouldn't be talking to her anymore, if she ever dared cutting it off. Her brother loved her hair and the longer it got, the more he liked to tease her about it, but when she threatened to have it cut, his lips would form this tiny pout and he would tell her not to do it.

_You're my baby,_ she heard him almost whining, _I didn't mean it when I said you looked like a Barbie. I'm sorry, just don't cut it off, you can't cut my hair off, that's no fair._

Yes, it was _his _hair, even thought it wasn't on his head, it was _his_ hair.

"I miss you, bro",Lilly whispered and while raising from the edge of the tub, the towel she had wrapped around herseld fell to the ground, but she didn't bother to pick it up, after all, there were no windows and she had locked the door, so she walked over to the dresser she had placed her clothes on. Next to the dresser, on the wall, was a full-length mirror and Lilly stopped to take a look at her reflection, Spike's husky voice in her ears.

"You're the effin' 'ottest 16-year-ol' I ever seen, Tiger",he had told her once when they had been shopping some new clothes and Lilly had walked up and down in the changing room to check, if the low ryders she had put on really fit.

"Already 5'7 tall, though you're still growin', curly blonde 'air down to your gorgeous tiny waist, flat belly wit' a slight six pack, wide 'ips shakin' when you walk, tight ass, endless muscular legs, full lips, 'igh cheekbones – like mine – beautiful ocean blue eyes and, o' course",he had smirked,"some decent c-cups."

That was Spike at his finest! Rotten to the core, but she loved him for being like that, because he was at least honest.

_Someone's gotta tell you that you're 'ot, Tiger, you gotta build up some bloody self-confidence and that fuckin' brother o' yours doesn't seem to do that a lot, _and Spike didn't like Brian, although they hadn't met, yet, and hopefully never would, otherwise, Lilly would be in lots of trouble.

Spike's real name was Raymond, the girl had met him the first time she had been dancing in "The Club" and they had been comfortable with each other immediately.

It had been at the beginning of February, when Lilly had still been fifteen, that she had seen Raymond sitting on a bench at the coast, crying and shouting at the people who dared so much than looking at him. The blonde had walked up to him and sat down on the bench as well. The man hadn't shouted at her, but, nonetheless, told her to "just leave him the fuck alone". And Lilly hadn't, instead, she had asked him what had happened.

"You wouldn't understand",he had said and shaken his head.

"Try me, I kow about lots of stuff",the girl had answered while looking him straight into the eye.

"Oh, yeah",Spike had snorted and reagarded her curiously,"you know 'bout losing friends?"

"Unfortunately, I do", and then, she had told him about Cathy, her best friend ever. How they had met, how they had refused to be _girly_, how they had drunk alcohol together when they had stayed at each other's over night, how they had smoked cigarettes and pot, how they had read books to each other………and how Cathy had died. Shot by some guy, accidently, but eventually, she had been dead. Lilly had never told anybody these things before, not even Brian, yet, with Raymond, she had had the feeling that she…………….that he had been the one she could tell.

"How'd you manage to get over it?"The man had asked her, his eyes showing deep respect for her.

"The last book Cathy an' I read was _The Fountainhead _by Ayn Rand",Lilly had swallowed down her tears at the memory," and there's this one part where the main character and his best friend are sitting on a boat and the friend says that the man is very cold and the man replies that if the boat were sinking, and there was only room in the lifeboat for one person, he would gladly give up his life for his best friend and then, he says something what I didn't understand before Cathy died. It was kinda like : I would die for you, but I won't live for you. That's how I managed it. My friend's dead, I can't change that, as much as I would love to, I just can't, yet, she's still a part of my life because I remember her, but………living for a dead person is no way to live, ya know?"

And Raymond had looked at her before embracing her, before thanking her over and over again. That was the day Raymond – Spike – had become her "best big surrogate brother ever".

"So did Will, Thomas and Mouse",Lilly smiled at the memory while putting on her bra,"my crazy lil' family, including Sugar and Nico, of course."

Each of them was special to her in a certain kind of way.

It had started with Raymond, but soon after she had gotten to know him a little better, he had told her that all of his friends called him Spike due to him having a strong resemblance to James Marsters who played the vampire named _Spike_ in the TV show _Buffy: The Vampire Slayer_…….and due to Raymond cursing a lot, just like this blonde vampire. He had even dyed his dark blonde hair platinum blonde only to have fun with people mistaking him for the original.

Spike was 26 and had opened up a piercing and tattoo studio after having graduated from college in no time and was now living in a huge apartment together with Sugar, a black woman he had dated when they had still gone to highschool.

Sugar's real name was Jenyza, but she loved "the irony of life", so she wasn't called "Coacoa" but "Sugar". The 24-year-old woman was a lot like Spike: she was always honest and would listen to Lilly and her problems, she was just as blunt as her roommate – whenever Spike, Sugar and Lilly were together, they made the girl blush at least once – and very open-minded, bi-sexuell and she didn't judge people she had never met, unlike Spike. But the best thing about Sugar was that Lilly actually had a _female_ person to talk to about guys and sex and other problems most 16-year-old girls had to sort out. She didn't know why she wouldn't trust Suki with this, it was just that………..the blonde feared that Suki wouldn't keep it to herself and tell Brian when there was a major problem. So, Sugar was like an older sister and best _female_ friend to Lilly. The only thing disturbing was that the woman was not only a nurse but also a model and tried to get Lilly to model as well.

"Sugar, no",she had raised both her hands into th air,"I can't. Just think of my bro, no, really."

"If 'e really loved you, 'e'd let you do this bloody job",unless Sugar, Spike judged people without knowing them.

Then, there was Will. Lilly had found out a little later that he and Sugar were cousins but they behaved like brother and sister, because Sugar's parents used to beat her and her younger brother Julian – Mouse – so that their uncle and aunt – Will's parents – had gotten their custody rights when Sugar and Will had been fifteen and Mouse seven.

Will's parents owned this really cool beauty-salon where he worked during the day, while at night, he would go out dancing in clubs as a professional.

They all did, even Lilly.

Mouse aka Julian still went to school, he was in tenth grade like Lilly, so they had met way earlier than the others because his locker was right next to hers. In school, everybody called Mouse "Jul" and there was no doubt in the fact that he was the coolest guy in school, even the seniors respected him and Mouse had told her that Mike Anders had tried to become his friend ever since, but he considered him a jerk. The reason his _true_ friends called Julian "Mouse" was obvious: due to him having been beaten by his parents, the boy had gone more and more silent. Of course, now, a couple of years later, he wasn't all that silent anymore, nonetheless, he kept a lot of things to himself – like Lilly. Maybe that was why they had bonded so well.

It had happened when Lilly had gotten detention for being too late for class, although it really hadn't been her fault, because it had been her first week at the new school and therefore, she hadn't known where the class room had been. So, she had gotten detention. That day, Mouse had gotten detention, too, for having started a fight – he had merely tried to separate two guys and ended up in the middle of a fight and the teacher had thought that the others had been lying when saying that it hadn't been Mouse's fault. It had been the two of them in this class room, the teacher hadn't showed up, and they had started talking. They had become friends, much better friends than Lilly and Shane were, but, in school, nobody knew, or maybe a few did know but kept silent.

"We got da same wavelength",Mouse had once said and really, they could be together without actually talking and they still _talked_.

"Do you read bloody mind or what?"Spike had asked and then smiled seducively. "Wanna read mine, Tiger?"

Thomas was Will's boyfriend and had been Spike's best friend since primary school. That was why Spike still worked in the "Falls" as a bartender every now and then, not because it was _the_ hottest club in Miami, but because Thomas was the acting manager of it and so………Lilly got free access to the V.I.P. lounge whenever she came to party. She liked Thomas a lot for him reminding her of the 15-year-old guy that had lived next door when she had been separated from Brian. He had been her babysitter and taught her how to play the the fact that she had been merely nine years old back then, she couldn't actually _play_ the drums, but Thomas was teaching her now. He and Spike had once had their own band and he was pretty good at hitting the drums. He was a brother as well, offering advice and help, asking her about her interests, supporting her when she needed it.

And then, there was Nico. Spike's younger brother. 19 years old. Coal black hair by nature, always short between one or two inches. Dark liquid brown eyes, like Guiness. High cheekbones like Spike's. Taller than his brother. 6'3. A "to die for" body. Damn intelligent, too. He had gratuaded from highschool last year and was now studying management while working as a bartender and a dancer to get some money in. Everybody in their little group told them that they were perfect for each other, they kept lecturing Lilly for not asking him out, because she really was in love with him but she had the feeling that he was playing in a much higher league than she did, that she wasn't good enough for him. It was strange when she was with Nico: they would shyly offer each other hints of smiles, blushes and compliments, they even held hands at times, but yet, they had never gotten out on a date before, they hadn't even danced with each other, yet. Lilly could understand that they didn't "get it going" because of her being like the stupid 16-year-old blonde and Nico being the 19-year-old god of sex. He and Spike did kick- and thai-boxing, Nico's body looked like it had been carved into pure bronze.

"Why would he want me?"Lilly was completely dressed and went to the sink to brush her teeth. "He's got so much to offer and I? Hi, I'm sixteen and I spray cars."

Spike had offered her to teach her how to do kick-and thai-boxing during the summer vacation and she was looking forward to it.

_Summer's gonna be great._

Ever since Lilly started hanging out with her _family_, they had been showing her what Miami nightlife meant and by now, the girl had free access to almost every club in town due to her being a _professional dancer_.

Every now and then, managers would come by at "The Club" and search for new dancers for their clubs to animate and entertain the people. The system here in Miami was called "quit pro quo" – 2QP – it meant that the managers would walk up to the dancers they liked and ask them to dance in their clubs for a certain amount of money per hour but without such thing like a contract. So, the dancers danced and if they wanted to, they would get the money they had earned in one night cash, or the managers would put it "on the house". Then, they wouldn't get the money, but it would be saved for them by the owner. A computer regulated all of that, so, when a dancer decided to go party in that particular club, everything he drank or ate or smoked or took would be paid for with the money on this person's account.

Of course, when the dancers were really good, they got everything for free: access to the club, drinks, food and drugs……….because partying dancers would dance and therefore, entertain and animate the other people in the club.

Lilly smiled. She had "everything free" in 14 clubs by now – drinks, access to the V.I.P. lounges, food and drugs – quite good considering the fact that she had been in the system for merely a couple of months. However, there were only four clubs she went to regularly. The "Falls", the "V.I.P.e", the "X" and the "Phoenix".

Brian didn't know, of course. He would kill her, if he ever found out, but Lilly wasn't that stupid. Her brother raced at least three times a week. He would leave the apartment at ten or eleven p.m. and come home around three up to five a.m.. Enough time for Lilly to – quote Spike – "get all dirrty", with double r, not one, no, two r's.

Unfortunately, Brian had this nasty habit of checking out on her after having come home, so that he would actually walk into her room to see if she was sleeping, but Lilly just locked her door and when he had once asked her about it, she had answered him that she was always a little scared when he wasn't at home and he had indeed bought it!

A knock on the door made her jump.

"What's it?"She asked, still standing in front of the sink.

"I am bringing the clothes Mister Verone wishes you to wear",a male voice with a strong Spanish accent answered her.

_He wishes me to what?!_

"Just put them on the bed",the girl shrugged. She wasn't planning on wearing something _he_ had chosen for her, although………..some fresh clothes would be………._Hell, no! Girl, what are you thinking?!_

Lilly waited until the guy had left the room and then went to see what was lying on the bed.

"That's sick!"Actually, the clothes looked quite good, but it was something else that had caused her sudden outburst: there, next to the blouse and the capri pants, laid a bra and a thong!

"What kind of pervert is he to think that I'm gonna wear that!?"

A thong! And a bra! A damn thong!

She looked down at herself and eyed the items in front of her before looking down at herself again. The white capris weren't as tight as the black jeans she was wearing and the dark red blouse wouldn't reveal as much of her belly as her top did.

"No",the blonde said, shaking her head,"I………so maybe not the underwear……….no!"

Checking her watch, she saw that it was 9.42.

_Maybe, I should, but I couldn't wear my panties underneath these capris. The bra he sent doesn't fit. I got some 36 c-cups, boy, not b-cups. How fucking sick is it to send your prisoner underwear?! So, perhaps by wearing the capris and th blouse, I could convince him that I'm not much of a threat to him, so that he wouldn't keep me watched……….nah, not gonna work. Wearing the clothes or not? Wearing my tight and kinda smelly clothes or his ones which are clean and wider? I must be going mad……….._, she shook her head no and reached for the capris.

"I can wear panties underneath",Lilly eyed her reflection and was content that her red panties weren't shining through the white denim of the capris. She then pulled her top over her head and took the blouse still lying on the bed to put in on as well. Fortunately, it really was wider than her top and longer so that her belly was completely covered.

"Better not be trying anything like kissing me, boy",she murmured while putting on her high heels," this time, I'm gonna kick your balls with these."

Again, a knock on the door. Lilly got up and waited for a man she hadn't seen before to guide her out of the room.

_Let the show begin,_ she thought while walking through the halls.

So, what do you think: chapter or not?


	14. Morning Has Broken Part 1

Yeah, it might sound strange, but yes, I'm still alive! An I finally got holidays!!! Means that for the next six weeks I got nothing better to do than continuing the story that I've actually wanted to be finished two months ago, because – call me crazy – I'm already working on the sequel. Hell, I don't even know, if you guys want a sequel, but hey…………….

Anyhow, I just wanted to warn you: **if** I understood your rating system correctly, **this chapter is rated R!** Please tell me, if it's not, because the German rating system is a lot easier to get due to the ratings being _way_ easier to distinguish.

Have fun reading this one, kay?  

**Morning has broken, part 1**

Sucking in a deep breath through clenched teeth, Lilly stepped onto the quite spacious veranda from where she could see the whole pool area, including Carter Verone who was talking to some woman wearing a white bikini and a towel wrapped around her hair. While eying her, something in Lilly's brain made _click_. Hadn't her brother mentioned an undercover agent that was living at Verone's? Yeah, he had……….but he hadn't said a damn word about this agent being a woman and one with – how would Brian put it? – _potential_ at that!

_Great! Just great! This Verone guy's probably gonna kill me because of my brother's libido wanting to fuck that agent! Perfect! He wants to get laid and I gotta bear the consequences, just like the last time when he had the hots for Mia! I……………..wow',_ Lilly shook her head slightly as though that would clear it. Where had these thoughts come from? She had sounded………..she had sounded like Spike! This was exactly the way Spike thought of Brian, as a sunnyboy, somebody who didn't give a damn about other people, who only cared about his personal needs: freedom and sex. Once Lilly had told Spike her story, how they had ended up in Miami and stuff, her surrogate brother had started telling her that Brian wouldn't care for her the way she deserved it, that, if he really loved her, he wouldn't have messed up in L.A. so that Lilly wouldn't have had to deal with all the shit that had come up due to them _moving_ to Miami.

"C'mon, Tiger", Spike had said and looked her straight into the eye while breathing out the smoke of the cigarette in his hand,"don' deny the facts. I'm just tellin' you the fuckin' obvious. 'E doesn' soddin' care for you the way 'e should. I mean, just look a' the last six months. Did 'e bloody asked you, if 't was righ' to fuck that chit? No. 'E wanned to fuck 'er, so 'e 'ad to make friends wit' 'er bro. 'is downfall, coz one should never fuck or make friends wit' 'is job, no matter 'ow 'ot tis. All o' the time, did 'e, just once, asked you 'bout your 'pinion? No. 'E jus' continued 'is way down 'nto 'er pants an' when 'e'd messed up, 'e took advantage o' you 'aving nobody else but 'im, unfor'nately. An' now",Spike had taken another drag from his cigarette,"now, 'e's 'aving the time o' 'is life while you're workin' your sexy ass off. You go to school, work 'n the afternoon an' in the evening, you may still 'ave to do bloody 'omework while ev'rythin' 'e does is sleepin', racin', afterwards some partyin' and even some fuckin'. You're more like an 'dult than 'e is, Tiger, I ain't shittin' you. 'E never notice when you aren't a' 'ome durin' the nigh' – not that I mind, coz you're one 'ot 'ell to party wit' – but I think that an ol'er brother that cares should notice su' things. But no, 'e doesn'. You go "Club", nothin', you go partyin', nothin', a coupla times, you didn' even go to school, coz you were throwin' up a' Sugar's 'n mine from either too mu' liquor or pills or joints………or all o' it, still, 'e didn' fuckin' notice. 'Ell, you even fake 'is signature ev'ry now an' then! Ev'rythin' you guys seem to share is some blood an' that darn racin', as long as you do that, 'e thinks you're fine. Does 'e care for your art? Does 'e care for the books you read? Does 'e care for your dancin'? No, 'e doesn' even know 'bout that an' don' come up wit' that _'e only doesn' know coz I don' let 'im_ shit, I'm an ol'er brother myself an' Nico 'as been livin' wit' me since 'e was fourteen. I knew whenever somethin' was up, coz I _felt_ it an' if 'e didn' wanna talk to me, I would fin' a way to make 'im an' then, we would talk 'bout it. I offered my 'elp an' if 'e took it, fine, an' if 'e didn', fine, too, coz I raised my brother to be an adult one day an' that meant that 'e 'ad to learn where 'is limits are. Same goes for you. I let you drink an' take whatever you feel like, coz I know that you're smar' enough to say _no_ when tis been too much",and another drag,"'sides, I guess that the pukin' an' the 'ole feelin' sick the next day is punishment enough. Your bro would simply forbid you t' do any o' this, coz 'e doesn' realize that you're already grown. 'E still thinks o' you as 'is little innocen' angel, comple'ly helpless wit'out him, takin' wha'ever shit 'e produces wit'out complainin'. Tha's no righ', Tiger. 'E's nothin' but a fuckin' sunnybody an' the day you realize it, there's this lil' spare room a' Sugar's 'n mine where Nico used to live till last year an' we would love to 'ave you 'round." The cigarette had been finished by then.

"Shut the fuck up, Spike",Lilly had said to him and went onto the dancefloor to blow off some steam. She had been shocked by – how she called it by now – _Spike's version_. It still was a boiling point between them and they didn't talk about it very often, but every now and then, he would still indicate certain things.

"I only don' want 'im to 'urt you, Tiger. You already 'ad to deal wit' so much shit in your life",Spike had said. He really loved her like a younger sister and she really loved him like an older brother, yet……….it bothered her that he thought like that of Brian because, unfortunately, Spike didn't keep _his version_ to himself but told it to others as well and, unfortunately, the others believed him. Oh, they wouldn't say it – at least most of them not – but she could see it in their eyes whenever she mentioned Brian. Even Sugar, Mouse, Nico, Thomas and Will believed Spike………..and Alex who was working together with her at Tej's Garage believed him as well. He worked as a dancer, just like Lilly and her friends, so he knew about her _nightlife_, but he didn't say anything, it was _their secret_.

"If I told your brother or anybody else, you'd only get into unnecessary trouble an' I like you _way _too much to let that happen. Besides, I know how it is to have a strict Dad. People like us gotta back each other up." That was why he didn't like Brian all that much and would offer Lilly his help for thinking of alibis.

So, how come that the blonde would suddenly think like Spike? She had always denied every single comment that had left her surrogate brother's mouth, always. Maybe it was because of the circumstances, the stress had to be responsible for this, yet………..the girl felt confused, she wanted to have a cigarette. Immediately.

"Miss O'Conner",Lilly looked up, straight into Carter Verone's icy blue eyes. She had been to busy thinking to notice that he had stopped his little chat with the woman and come over to her. Now, he was standing in front of her, smiling all too friendly but as he looked down at her, an expression that came close to disappointment appeared on his face,"I'm sorry to see that the clothes don't quite fit, please don't feel insulted by me having chosen the wrong size",then, the man looked up again, one of _these smiles_ on his lips,"I should have taken a closer look at you, it definitely wouldn't have been a waste of time."

"I think that you have already been _too_ close to me, Mister Verone",Lilly cocked her head slightly to the side and a sadistic but nonetheless pleased smile was tugging at the corners of her mouth when she saw his light red cheek,"or do you wish me to continue what I started earlier this morning?"

"Who knows",the brunette let his tongue dart out and then run over his upper lip. _She definitely is a woman………and a challenge. Not like Monica leaping onto my arm whenever she wants me to buy her a new outfit or a new necklace. No, this one respects herself. I will have to think of something to make her realize the many reasons for her to want me. _"You may wish to continue in a _different way_."

Lilly raised one eyebrow. "Oh, really? And you assume that because……?"

"Let yourself be surprised",Verone told her before indicating with his left hand the room that led to the veranda,"for now, I happen to remember that you haven't had breakfast, yet. Ladies first."

"So that you can have a closer look at my _back_? Thank you, but I would prefer walking next to you",the blonde knew exactly that he just wanted to check out on her ass and she wouldn't let that happen. It was already bad enough that he seemed to be truly convinced by the fact that he would get into her pants, but Lilly would certainly _not_ support this perverted way of thinking by just letting him check her out!

Carter Verone merley chuckled. _This one's gonna be fun and if things develop the way I want them to, I may not even have to kill her. It would be such a waste of beauty and intelligence. I wonder how she is in bed…………_ "As you wish",he answered her and walked next to her through the room and then through a hall leading to the place where they would take their breakfast. Actually, Carter had planned to have breakfast with his _guest_ at the pool, but Monica's appearance had made him change his mind. _Well,_ he thought while eying the blonde walking next to him from the side, _with a little bit of luck, I will soon be able to replace Monica with something way better._

Parking his Evo in front of the building that the U.S.-Customs used as a secret office, Brian sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He hadn't done much after Verone and his boys had left, just showered and dressed, the will to shave or to eat hadn't been there, everything Brian had been able to do was to worry about his baby, especially after having seen the bruises on the men's faces who had _visited_ him and Roman this morning. If they had hurt her as well? Lilly had surely fought them, there was no doubt in the fact that his little sister had tried everything to get rid of them, but had they fought her? Was she injured or in pain……….or anything?! It was so frustrating! The blonde man hated situations like that! Actually, he was quite patient, but if it came down to waiting for information about somebody who was _that_ close to him, he just couldn't manage to think about anything else. There was no such thing like distraction for him, particularly not with Lilly! Rome had tried to talk to him about cars, but even cars hadn't worked, because Brian had ended up thinking about which car Lilly might choose to be her first one.

"Don't worry, man",Roman told him while they were getting out of the car,"Kitten's doin' fine, I know she is." _And if my Kitten isn't fine when we find her, I'm gonna rip that Verone guy into thousands of tiny pieces and then, feed them to the fish. Nobody hurts Roman Pearce's Kitten, especially not after I've finally gotten her back._

It was true, Lilly was one of the persons Roman had missed the most. She had always made him smile or laugh and Rome had had an ally against Brian. When he had seen her at Tej's Garage for the first time after all of those years, he hadn't believed that this had really been his Kitten. The innocent little girl had _grown_, or better yet, _developed_………she could definitely make the _Playboy_ or, at least, a calendar……….something Brian wasn't all too happy about, Roman could tell.

As far as he knew, Lilly didn't have a car, yet, a fact which the black man wasn't quite able to understand because the girl had been into cars for as long as he could remember and she was already 16! But now that Roman Pearce was here, this problem would be taken care of because it just wasn't right to let Kitten walk!

Walking side by side into the building, Brian sucked in a deep breath. Hopefully, Monica had already gotten in touch with Markham or Bilkins, so that they could think of a solution for the situation. The blonde didn't care about the run he had to do anymore, his focus was completely on his baby and on her safety, nothing else mattered to him but this. After having turned to the left, he already saw Dunn, Markham and Bilkins standing there and Brian felt slightly digusted by the bright shirt his former friend was wearing.

"Nice shirt, Bilkins",his little sister's life was endangered like it had been never before and this guy just looked as though he wanted to………….._come down, man, it's not his fault and you can't expect everybody to be worried like shit only because you are._

"It's my day off",Bilkins frowned when he saw how agitated O'Conner was, as though something was wrong.

"Well, anyhow, this is the deal",Brian really wanted this to be over as soon as possible,"last night, Verone threatened a cop into giving us a window. We're driving to an airstrip in the Keys, off Nallwood Avenue. Verone has a plane there and he's taking off for good.

"Wait a minute",Markham shook his head in slight disbelief while raising his hand,"how do you know that?"

"Monica",Brian answered, wanting to change the topic but Roman spoke up before he could have continued.

"She's doing her job. She warned us",his dark eyes were lightly narrowed while burning with mistrust.

"Verone plans to kill us after we give him the money",again, the blonde man wanted to mention Lilly and again, he was interrupted before having even started, this time by Bilkins, though.

"Driving into an ambush wasn't the deal",he said as if he was speaking out loud what he was thinking,"I'm calling it off."

Markham opened his mouth to say something, but this time, Brian was faster.

"That's not everything",Bilkins, Dunn and Markham eyed him in a sceptical _wait, there's more_ way and the young man took a deep breath,"he's got Lilly."

Bilkins just looked at him, eyes widened in shock. "You're kiddin' me, right O'Conner? Tell me that you're kidding me."

"Do you honestly think that I would joke about something like that?"Brian narrowed his blue eyes while regarding his former friend who shook his head no."He's got her. Yesterday evening, she went out with some friend and when I came home, she wasn't there. This morning, Verone and his boys came to visit us and he told me that I'd get her back once I finish the run. Monica already knows and said that she wanted to think of something, but I don't like depending on that 'cause Verone's getting suspicious."

"I knew we should've taken that kid with us!"Markham ran a hand through his hair, obviously pissed off."Great! Now, I don't only have to deal with you guys",he pointed both hands at Brian and Roman,"but also with some kid that's stupid enough to get herself kidnapped!"

"Yo, man, come down",Roman was furious. It angered him like hell that this jerk was talking about his Kitten like that."First of all, it's not her fault and secon….."

"Secondly, she's _my_ problem, now. And",he turned to Bilkins,"no one's calling this off unless I do. I've got enough trust into Fuentes to know that she can handle the problem with that kid on her own, so let's focus back on _your_ actual task because this is real simple",with each hand, the man grabbed the two walky-talkies lying on the desk behind him and then, turned back to Roman and Brian,"make the run, get Verone and his cash together, so I can move in. You don't, I'll file enough charges on you to make you disappear. Take these",he gave them the items in his hands before walking right past them,"we're gonna have GPS on you so you don't get any cute ideas." With that last comment, Markham went to leave the building, but Brian's call made him stop.

"What about my sister? Don't you get it?! Verone's gonna freakin' kill her, while you're doing nothing to help her!"

"I already told you",Markham didn't even have the nerves to turn around, he was simply annoyed by the whole situation,"that Fuentes can handle this on her own."And that was it for him, he left the building.

"He can't do that!"Brian clenched his fists, almost making the walky-talky break into pieces because of the pressure.

"I know",Bilkins responded, a little shocked by Markham's completely cold behaviour,"I'll see what I can do. Don't worry, O'Conner, I'll do everything that's possible."

"Whatever",the blonde muttered before turning around to leave. He had to get out of this place otherwise risks were high that he would do something _very stupid_.

"I hope everything will be enough",Roman said and followed Brian outside where he caught a glimpse of Markham getting into his car."That guy's a dick",while walking next to the blonde, he reconsidered the situation,"let me get this right. If we don't do this, we go to jail and Kitten's dead. But if we do it, then Verone's going to kill us and Kitten probably, too.

Taking out his cell, Brian sighed heavily."It's a hell of a deal, huh?"

"Yeah, maybe it is",standing side by side, both men looked at the water in the canal that was next to the bulding until Roman's voice broke the silence,"that guy's got an ass full of loot that he's ready to dump in our cars",he grinned slightly and turned to face Brian,"I can think of two reasons why he doesn't need that money anymore."

"Make that three reasons",Brian smiled,"I'm pretty sure that Lilly's gonna demand to get a piece of him as well."

"You, me and Kitten. Just like the old days. What do you think?"       

"They messed with the wrong guys",the blonde said while dialing Tej's number who answered immediately.

"Tej, what's up, bro?"

"What's up? We have one cute Chica missing. She sick?"The worry in Tej's voice was real, it wasn't like Lilly not to come to work without saying anything.

"Long story, but tell me: how quickly can you organise?"

That was it. A little short, I know, but if I had made one part out of the two, it would have been too long an I promised somebody to update this weekend! Please don't be mad at me! 


	15. Morning Has Broken Part 2

Back to life! Nah.

So, finally, I managed to get the second part done. Thank God…………and all of the reviewers, you guys make me sit down in front of the computer even though I usually don't have even the slightest idea of what to write………..that's why the chapters always take me so long………….and work's tiring me, but that's not much of an excuse, I guess. Well, this is the second part of "Morning has broken" and I hope that you'll enjoy it because I really had to suck this out of my fingers.

Have fun reading it, kay?

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Morning Has Broken – Part 2

"Please, excuse this interruption, but, as you can see, I have to take care of my business",Carter Verone was sitting oppsite to Lilly at a table that was neatly set with fruit, juices, coffee and tea, croissants – pretty much everything one could want for breakfast. He had just ended a call and put his cell phone down onto the table, right next to his cup of coffee, while eying the 16-year-old nipping on her orange juice.

The girl had been quite content with Verone having gotten a call due to this giving her the time to reconsider on the talk they had had so far and to think of some kind of tactics for any upcoming conversation. How should she act and react? The girl had decided that she would certainly continue refusing him and any of his _implied offers_, but what could she tell him, if he came up with topics like family? How should Lilly present Brian to him? She would have to make Verone think that Brian wasn't much of a threat to him, that her brother would do the job as good and fast as possible without causing any trouble.

_Sounds simple,_ Lilly had thought and watched the brunette opposite to her. So far, the man hadn't asked her any _personal_ questions, yet, something that had really amazed her because she considered him to be that type of person who always wanted to know everything, so that he could place the people into certain categories, like a control freak. Enemy, impartial, ally, although Lilly could not quite imagine that Carter Verone accepted _impartial_. She guessed that he would somehow find a way to force the impartial ones to become his allies, maybe by threatening ot torturing them, and if they still wanted to remain neutral, he would just kill them.

_Simple and cheap, yet, effective. I wonder what he thinks of me. Does he consider me dangerous? He obviously wants me to be his bed-toy, but that doesn't have to mean anything. Even if I was willing to have sex with him – what's never gonna happen – he might as well kill me afterwards, kinda like: a bullet into your head instead of breakfast. So, how to keep him off of me while making him believe that I won't escape, so that he would let me unguarded? Oh fuck, I can't think of anything when he's sitting right in front of me, that's………distracting. I'll just have to wait till I'm in that room again, after all, he said that I have to stay at this place until tomorrow evening, enough time left and I already got at least half of a plan to get outta here, but I know close to nothing about this house or this whole property, yet. Of course, I tried to notice as much as possible when the jerks brought me here, but at night, things soemtimes don't look the same as they do during daytime. Maybe I should just………_

"So",Carter spoke up and made her look at him. He had his hands folded to support his chin on them, his elbows resting on the clean glassy surface of the table,"tell me a little about you, Miss O'Conner. What does a beautiful young lady like you do to entertain herself in Miami?"

"For once, I still go to school",Lilly hoped that, by saying this, he would be reminded of the fact that there was quite a difference in age between them,"therefore, my leisure time is kind of limited. On top of that, I also work after school and on Saturdays."She definitely wasn't into telling _him_ about her going into clubs and dancing!

"You work? Doesn't your brother support you with enough money? An allowance, for example?"The fact that the girl worked really surprised Verone a little. He surely hadn't thought of the blonde as a spoiled little girl that got everything she wanted, but having to work?

"Yes, I work",she took another sip from the orange juice,"but not because my brother doesn't support me with enough money, but because I like to have a certain independence. It makes me feel better to know that I have money because I earned it for doing something. As for the allowance, well, my brother hasn't been giving me one since I was fifteen, but that is only because I don't want him to." It was true, Lilly really hadn't been getting an allowance since she had been around fifteen and a half, simply because she didn't consider it to be necessary. She paid for her stuff, she had always done that, even if Brian hadn't - and still didn't - liked it. If it came down to him, he would spoil her; clothes, generous allowance, books, furniture, anything she would need for her most favoured hobby – art – he would even go so far and buy her a $30.000 car – he had really offered one to her not even three months ago, telling her to look at it as a birthday present, but eventually, she had talked him out of it. The last car he had wanted to get for her had been a '92 Mazda. He would do that every two or three weeks, walking up to her and be like "you know, there's this car and it's quite good. Maybe you should have a look at it and, you know…….", but Lilly always turned his offers down, simply because she didn't want him to spend so much money for her or to risk losing his own car, if he decided to win the car by racing the owner. The blonde felt uncomfortable whenever a person, not only Brian, wanted to give something to her that was over $20. She had never had much as a kid, no expensive toys or clothing or anything, so it seemed wrong to her that people would give expensive stuff to her now, she didn't understand _why_ people would want to give her expensive stuff. With Brian, okay, he wanted to spoil her and he would do it like mad, if she only let him, but Lilly thought that it was only because he felt guilty in some kind of way for her not having a _normal_ life or that great a childhood. He had once said: "Baby, it's not like I don't have the money, you know. My average per night is like, lemme see, $30.000 or $40.000. You remember that one night, when I even made 80 G's? Okay, quarter of it is spent on the car, but as for the rest",he had shrugged and then almost whined,"lemme spoil you, just a little, please?" But Lilly wouldn't let that happen, after all, it wasn't the money or the gifts which made her love her brother, but the hugs, the, sometimes quite annoying, kisses on her cheeks or temples or forehead or the times when he cooked for her.

"Ah",again, one of _these_ smiles which made Lilly feel anything but relaxed,"the knowledge not to depend on anybody. I appreciate that, especially in young people. What is your profession, then? A model?"

"Yeah, right",snorting, the blonde rolled her eyes heavenward,"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I am _definitely no_ model. I work at a garage."

"At a garage?"The brunette's eyes widened in disbelief, he looked kind of shocked."In the office of a garage?"

"No, well, actually",Lilly had a hard time fighting down the smile Verone's reaction had caused,"I was originally hired as a sprayer, so that every paint job is practically my job, but, of course, when I don't have any cars to paint, I work either as a mechanic or I take care of the card index or the stored parts. Adding new customers, recording what has been done on whose car, listing parts which need to be bought",she shrugged,"I have to admit, though, that I prefer working as a mechanic. The office may be easy, nonetheless, it kind of bores me."

"I am impressed",the dark-haired man shook his head slightly while smiling, the first at least half-honest smile the blonde had ever seen on him so far,"how come you have such an interest in cars, then? I don't know many woman who are even able to change tires or oil."

"I…..",Lilly paused. She couldn't remember anybody having ever asked her this question before, really. Most people just asked "are you into cars?" and when she said "yes" that was it, no more questioning, merely accepting. It was strange, but the girl had never really thought about this one question before."I've been growing up with cars due to my brother",although not being truly happy with her answer, she had the feeling that it had been necessary to say something before Verone was given the chance to pin her on that question. Lilly had always been into cars because Brian and Roman had been into them, but apart from that, why was she so interested in cars? Would she be interested in them as well, if her brothers hadn't been? Taking another sip from her orange juice, Lilly fought her mind down because she could feel how it started to race by thinking about Verone's question.

"It is a family affair, then?"

"Yes, one could indeed put it that way",the blonde felt slightly relieved that the man hadn't noticed her pausing and just continued with the conversation.

"I have a few cars in the garages and on the drive, you have possibly seen them when you have been brought here. May I hope that you are interested in a little tour?" He leant back against the backrest of his chair, now supporting his chin on the thumb of his left hand while his fingers covered his mouth…….something Lilly wasn't all too happy about due to her not being able to see his full face anymore what made it a little more difficult for her to guess whatever Verone was thinking or feeling. So far, she had already noticed several of his personal traits: first of all, she didn't consider him a man who would accept "no" as an answer, something that could get her into big trouble, secondly, he was, to bring it on a point, nothing but plain arrogant, an egoist for the Lord himself, this guy practically smelt of his self-confidence, not in a good way, though, because he, thirdly, seemed to be convinced by the fact that he was able to get every woman he wanted only by mentioning his name. Money was everything that mattered to him; the more he had, the more irresistible he felt. The blonde couldn't understand how a sane woman would actually want him, if he treated her like his personal whore!

So, if having sex with somebody was the only possibility for one to earn some money, to have something to eat, Lilly would always consider this to be prostitution, a way to get paid, a job, but if a woman that had other options left than having sex with other people only to get her life financed, Lilly would consider this to be whoring! The girl really distinguished between prostitutes and whores. If one had a job, then, fucking somebody else, whom one didn't love, for no other reason than to get a higher standard of living only because one was too lazy to work harder, Lilly would call these people whores. If one didn't have a job and really no other options left, then, the girl would say that having sex with other persons for money wouldn't make one a whore, but a prostitute. She had once tried to explain it to Crash, but he hadn't understood. Fortunately, her _crazy little family_ had and they had discussed the topic when the DJ of that night had been shit.

"Well",a tour would certainly give her the chance to get to know this place a little better, especially this little house she had thought of as a garage when seeing it for the first time from the window,"it's not like I have got anything else to do, right?" Actually, by this time, the girl should be at school and write her final in Spanish, yet, the idea of getting a closer look on some nice cars appeared way more entertaining………….and Lilly was fluent in Spanish due to Cathy having been a Hispanic and therefore having taught the blonde everything, so missing this one final wasn't all that bad. Yesterday, she had already written her final in mathematics, something she had been quite grateful for, because it had distracted her from Brian's sudden disppearing over the weekend.

Carter Verone merely chuckled, rose from his chair and waited for the blonde to repeat his actions.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Look, if y'all really want to carry out this plan, this is the best place to do it. What do y'all think?"Tej stood with his front towards on of the glassy walls of the corridor high above the gate to the loading and unloading zone of a warehouse. To his left and right were Brian and Roman, both eying the space underneath them. At first, Tej had been confused when they had told him what had happened and he had been a little unsure about their "plan" but as soon as they had informed him in what kind of way Lilly was involved into all of this, the black man had immediately forgotten about his doubts. He knew that Brian was worried like shit, he could see a sad gleam in the blonde's eyes whenever his sister was mentioned, the usual "coolness" in his walk was missing and had changed into tension.

"I think it's perfect",Brian answered, his eyes wandering over the area lying in front of him. The plan Rome and he had worked out wasn't all that hard to carry out, nonetheless, the blonde man didn't want to leave this to pure chance, it was simply too dangerous not to worry about the consequences………..his baby being killed.

_Lilly's certainly gonna be mad at me for letting her miss out on that,_ he thought and a sad smile crossed his lips.

"We could get Jimmy to install few cams to shoot the whole thing, man. That way, Chica would at least be able watch the hot shit her bro's bout to start",Tej looked at him, hands in the pockets of his pants.

The blonde man narrowed his eyebrows questioningly. Had he just spoken that last thought out loud? This whole situation was really getting through to him more than he had imagined it to do.

"As soon as she sees what we've planned and then done, she'll only be pissed even more",the man responded, already having the picture of a royally sulking Lilly in mind, telling him that he would have never allowed her to do anything likely and that he would be unfair and that she wouldn't be talking to him anymore because of this…………….no cameras, definitely no cameras for Brian's sake.

"Well, dawg, your sis is one with temper",Tej grinned. Ever since he had met the siblings a couple of months ago, he had seen Lilly only twice majorly furious and, fortunately, he had been wise enough not to be responsible for both times. The first time the man had seen the girl completely pissed off had been when one jerk hadn't stopped giving her shit about women not being able to handle cars properly. Oh, at first, she hadn't listened and tried to ignore it, but after an hour or so, she had been beyond boiling and she had walked up to that guy, who had been twice her weight and almost a whole feet taller than she, and yelled at him like mad until she had lowered her voice - and when Lilly was pissed off and lowered her voice, it would really frighten people, because, by then, her eyes would be burning with anger, all of her tensed muscles would vibrate, her breathing would get faster and way deeper than it usually was and her voice would be calm, totally calm – she had really scared the hell out of everybody back then, especially this guy. The second time she had gone like this, had been when Julius had started showing off his new gun. Tej knew why Lilly reacted quite sensitive on guns: she had lost her best friend, Cathy, and her first boyfriend, Jesse, to these things, therefore, she would go against every kind of being irresponsible when it came down to handling a gun. The girl was aware of the fact that most of her friends owned at least one, even Brian did, but she accepted that as long as the people would only use them to protect themselves and not to play with them like toys. So, at Tej's Garage, there was a complete ban on guns; people were either to leave them in their cars or not to bring them along at all………or not to spend their time somewhere else. Tej would always find himself quite impressed by the girl's strong will and that she was able to make people respect it, after all she had turned sixteen merely a few months ago.

"Yeah, enjoy yourself",Brian half-growled,"neither do you have to live with her nor will she be mad at you."

"Poor Brian",Roman failed badly in sounding as though he felt sorry for what he gained a glare out of blue eyes.

"Whatever",the blonde man sighed out, looking again over the space underneath them and tried to make the conversation turn into another direction by asking Tej what would be stored in there.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo  

I know, it's a bit short – sorry for that.      


	16. She Will Always Be Loved

It seemed to him as though he had been wiping with the slightly dirty linen cloth over the same spot on the exhaust of the '69 Yenko for hours now, without having the impression of it having gotten any cleaner at all………..or maybe it had and he was just not able to see it because in his mind, he was somewhere else. Not at Tej's Garage where he had been working on the car, that was on a lift now, all morning, surrounded by people telling him that everything would be alright, that they would find a way to help him………..that he would get his baby-sister back in one piece, alive and healthy. Marco had even gone so far to affirm that Lilly would probably be demanding to know what had taken them so long.

Brian had laughed at that due to him knowing his sister quite well. Chances were really high for her to be doing this.

_I'll come and be wanting to hug her, while she'll fold her arms in front of her chest and scowl at me for not having gotten to her any earlier,_ the young man shook his head, reconsidering the situation or better yet, the people's reactions to it.

This morning, when Lilly had not come to school, Shane had called Tej after not having gotten Brian on the phone and when Brian had called Tej to get things organized, he had told him everything, so that at least Tej's crew had know. The blonde had not seen their first reactions, but, now, they seemed to be rather worried about the girl as well.

_But then again,_ Brian thought_, it's not really such big a miracle that they care for her. Hell, somehow, she even managed to get Vince to love her like a younger sister. That's Lilly. My baby', _he put the cloth aside, telling himself defeatedly that the car was clean, before walking off into the office to get something liquid for running down his dry throat.

"Yo, bro", Jimmy called over to him at a distance of about thirty feet. The mechanic was just coming from where Roman was working on the orange-coloured '70 Dodge Challenger. Or maybe it was not orange – Lilly would now, she always knew. Red was not just red, it was cherry or strawberry or raspberry………..Brian shook his head.

"Yeah?" He answered, wondering what his friend might want.

"We gonna order in some food. Mexican. What you wanna have?"

"Nothin'",Brian did not feel like eating, not even hungry, although not having eaten anything this morning, yet. He had just taken a bite of one of the chocolate muffins his sister favoured so much and had drunk a cup of coffee afterwards to get his mind to wake up from a night of troubled sleep.

"C'mon, man, ya have to. Ya know exactly that Chica's gonna give you a speech once she finds out……….and all of us know exactly that this is so gonna happen", Jimmy chuckled, remembering the first time he had ever seen the girl doing so. It had been hilarious! He would have never imagined anything likely to be even possible. A 25-year-old man, being about 6'3 tall and weighing about 180 pounds, with muscles which could really intimidate people, had been reduced to nothing but a small 5-year-old boy, looking kind of embarrassed down to the floor, because his little sister, a 16-year-old girl, being about 5'10 tall and weighing about 130 pounds, had caught him "playing" with one of her paint-spray guns. And, so Jimmy swore to God, those items had a status close to holy for Lilly. To her, they were her tools, she needed them to be 100 functional, so nobody who had not asked was allowed to take them. Nonetheless, back then, Brian had not given second thought to it and just used one of them to mend the paint-job on the hood that had been scratched a night before. Of course, if Brian would have paid attention to the fact which paint-gun he had wanted to use, Lilly would have probably never found out, however, due to Murphy's law, this had not been the case. Unfortunately, the young man had taken the wrong top part for the spray-gun, so that the jet of spray had been too wide. Therefore, the paint had accidently also been laid over the blue accents on the hood due to Brian having forgotten as well to put some taping across them to protect them from being painted over. The accents had been pretty much destroyed and Brian not been able to replace them thus he had had to go and tell his sister.

Lilly had given him a speech about responsibility, common sense, being stupid and impatient………….Jimmy enjoyed seeing the siblings like that. Every now and then, they would simply change roles. Usually, Brian was the adult – the dad – and Lilly was the kid, however, at times, Lilly would become the adult – the mom – and Brian the kid, not only when it came down to one of them having done something wrong, but just as well when one of them was in a sad or angry mood. Whenever Brian was pissed off, Lilly would ususally be elected to go cheer him up and, somehow, she always managed to do so. It had been the same when Brian had not been receiving a part for the engine of his Skyline – he had really been _pouty_ about it. Lilly had just placed herself in his lap and hugged him and rubbed her hands over his back. She had even called him _baby_, then.

"Dunno",Brian shrugged,"maybe. So, let's make it some enchiladas, that's enough for me:"

"Gotcha",Jimmy took out his cell phone and dialed the number of the restaurant, while Brian continued his way into the office.

Within the little room, the so-called "heart" of Tej's Garage, it was cooler than on the outside due to the air-conditioning. The blonde looked around. Right in the center stood two desk opposite to each other, an LCD-monitor on each of them next to some sheets of paper and the stuff one usually found in an office: calenders, pens, memo pads, telephones…………. Nothing special.

There was a long low cupboard for files to Brian's left, stopping right underneath the windows so that the view out onto the drive was not blocked by anything. Outside, he saw people passing by, working on their cars, chatting to one another, parked cars, either owned by the "visitors" or by Tej to sell them sometime. To his right, there were cupboards as well, however, higher than the one to his left. They were also meant to be used for files, still, Brian was not so sure about that due to Lilly once having said something about "him not wanting to know what was in there". Only the people of the staff had access to these cupboards, but it was understandable because Tej had to watch out for nobody copying or might stealing any of "his business". The wall to his right was only to one half hidden behind the cupboards, the other was covered with pictures.

Pictures of his baby, or more precisely, of her designs.

Brian would always remember the day he had first seen what Lilly had done to Suki's S2000. It had been one of their first weekends in Miami and they had decided to spend some time of it at Tej's due to them needing new parts for their Skyline. At that time, the former sprayer, Miguel, had just been fired for having tried to cheat. He had cut through the breakleads of the guy who he had been to race that night. So, Suki had complained about having lost him because of her wanting a new paint-job for her brand new Honda S2000. Eventually, the Asian had told Lilly that she would have been responsible for this due to her having found out about the cut leads and that, therefore, it would now be her duty to do the job. Of course, this had been nothing but a joke, nonetheless, when Suki had been back in the yard at the pool area, Lilly had just taped her car and then driven it into the spraying room.

Brian smiled. By now, pretty much everybody referred to this room as "Chica's Quarters", the guys of the crew had even put on a sign on the door saying "Attention! Blonde crossing!".

Well, anyways, Suki had not noticed Lilly spraying the Honda until she had wanted to leave, so she had needed her car, yet, it had been nowhere to be found. The young woman had gone insane about it! Her brand new car being stolen! It had been so expensive! She had had her passport and other papers in there……………..the usual. Finally, Diego had told them that Lilly had taken it to the spraying room a couple of hours ago, where it would still have been.

So, when opening the doors to the room, Suki, having been very determined to see what Lilly had done to her baby, had started to scream in delight. "It's pink! Oh my Gosh! Look at it! It's perfekt! Ahhhh! I love it! Oh. My. Gosh!!! Have a look at this! This is exactly what I wanted! This is so cute! Ahhh, there's me as an anime carakter on the driver's side! Hire that girl, Tej, you listen!?"

Brian had been, by all means, completely taken aback. He had known that his sister was very talented…………….with crayons and markers and pencils – whatsoever, however, he would have never guessed she was capable of doing something _like that_. This night, Suki had really been surrounded by everybody at the races, asking questions and complimenting on the paint job.

It had made him feel very proud of his baby.

Not an arrogant kind of pride, just that sort of pride that made him grin like an idiot and wanting to embrace his little sister and never to let go again.

Afterwards, news had spreat fast around town that there would have been a new sprayer at Tej's being able to perform wonders. So, each time Lilly had come up with a paint job even more flashy then any other before, Tej had taken a photo of the car and pinned it to the wall within the office.

People could say many things about Tej Parker, many things which were not true, nevertheless, some were, for example that this man really loved to show off his employees. He took a great liking in being angrily glared at by other owners of garages, just for the heck of it, because he new that he had reason to show his crew off……………..and a strange crew it was. Each of them so different from the other, at times, it seemed to Brian like a miracle that they actually managed to be working together, however, maybe it were indeed the differences providing the solid ground underneath the feet of Tej's crew.

Alex, Diego, Jimmy, Lilly and Marco – Tej's crew. Four guys and a teenage-girl. Sounded pretty much like some mainstream comedy, but they were not, they were a team.

Alex. Alexander Preace. 24 years old. A black guy about 6 feet tall with wiry muscles. He was responsible for wheels, tires and also for electronics. Somehow, there was a slight electricity between him and Brian. They did just not get along that great, nonetheless, he was really good friends with Lilly. Always calling her his tiger or simply baby. From what Brian had experienced so far, Alex was upright honest and did not like to hide his feelings or what he was thinking.

Diego. Diego Hernandez. 26 years old. About 6'2 tall, buff but not too much – like Brian. His Spanish decent was obvious due to his lightly tan skin and his dark eyes. His hair was also actually a dark brown, yet, he died it a light blonde. He was great to hang out with. His crude and at the same time somehow charming way made it impossible to dislike him. He was a heartbreaker, as well……….or, at least, he acted like one. Always having a charming smile for women on his lips, a quick compliment spoken with his Spanish accent and they were fallen in deep for him. At first, Brian had had a problem with this attitude of his towards Lilly, fearing that his sister would be getting involved into something at too young an age, but after having figured out that to Diego and to Lilly the constant flirting was nothing but a game, he had backed off and let them be done with it. He usually worked on the body kits, the accessories and engines in general…………..although, actually each of the crew members did work on the engines in general.

Jimmy. James Verting. 24 years old. Mother Asian, father American. He had a strong preference for all sorts of Rock and Metal……………just like Brian. So, they had been getting along rather well ever since having met for the first time. Jimmy was responsible for the supervision of everything, yet, his field of interest was the electronics and the engines. He loved developing new programs and techniques for NOS-system.

And, of course, there was Marco. Marco Merisi. At 6'6 a huge figure with intimidating muscles being responsible for the interior of the cars. His Italian heritage was quite obvious due to his tan skin and his brown eyes. He also spoke with an Italian accent. In some ways, Marco reminded Brian of Dominic and in some ways, he seemed to be a completely different personality. Marco pretty much shared Dom's appearance: the muscles, the bald head, his vivid dark eyes. He was rather quiet around people as though he preferred to listen rather than to talk. Sometimes, Brian got the expression that Marco would only say something, when he really had to say something, not just mindless chatter. The blonde had heard so far that Marco boxed and worked out each day after work………..and that he had once worked as security for clubs. It matched him well. Between Marco and Brian, there actually was no relationship. Every now and then, they would be talking about cars, but that was it. Brian always felt like being observed by the tall Italian often making him feel uncomfortable. Eventually, the blonde guessed Marco did not trust him, although having no reason to do so, Brian had more than just once shown it, nonetheless, there relationship was rather cold. The man did not mind. He had seen Marco interacting with Lilly and that was everything it had taken to convince him by the fact that Marco was one of the good guys. He treated his baby like a younger sister, always smiling at her and helping her carry the heavy stuff around, though Lilly would – of course – complain about it because she was not _some random Barbie not being able to do anything due to fearing one of her fingernails might break_.

But, then again, each of the guys treated Lilly like that. They would joke with her, tease her merciless, protect her from guys which would come _too close_ to her and always watch out for Lilly not working more than she should.

As Alex had once said it: "Baby, now listen. We love you. We like spending time with you, nonetheless, you're 16 and you should not be hanging out the entire day with a bunch of old people like us. You go to school each day and afterwards, you come here to work. All I'm saying is that you should enjoy youth while being young and do some shit your brother should not know about, 'kay? You were hired as a sprayer, you do the paint jobs, but when there's no paint job to be done, you can just as well spend the afternoon with some friends at the beach or wherever you want. Of course, you're allowed to visit and to help us every now and then, but that's it. You need your part time, don't always think about your duties."

So, each day after school, Lilly could come to work whenever she wanted, as long as she would be getting the new paint jobs done the day they were meant to be done. Tej's Garage was _officially _opened from 10 a.m. till 6 p.m., on Saturdays from 10 a.m. till 4 p.m. and closed on Sundays, though, usually, the crew used the Sundays for working on their own cars.

"Yo, punk", Roman's head peered through the open door, "food's here. I don't wanna miss it cos of you ain't movin' your blonde ass."

"'Food's here' would have been enough, thanks, though", by now, Brian had sat down on the chair in front of the third desk within the office. Lilly's desk. It was all covered with crayons and markers, sheets of paper showing designs or how different colours looked next to one another. The LCD-monitor was, of course, off. Nobody dared using Lilly's PC due to everybody knowing that the young girl had her very own system of catalogizing her designs which probably no other human being on earth would ever understand. She had a files named _classic, stripes, complicated, individual, retro_…………the list was endless, yet, she always knew where to look for what.

"What the hell………?"The black man had come closer to the desk and was now regarding it sceptically. Especially the post-it on the monitor, showing a growling "Hello Kitty" with the line "Touch and die a horrible death" written underneath. "What could she possibly do?" He mused.

"You don't wanna find out, man, you just _don't_",Brian got up from the chair, remembering how dangerous his little sister could become when being pissed off.

"Guys said they wanted some liquior",Rome told Brian before he would leave the office and let him carry everything.

"Kay",the blonde rubbed the back of his neck when it hit him that he had actually come into the office to get something to drink as well. He had completely forgotten about it once having seen so many personal items of his baby.

"Damnit",he got a strange look from Roman,"the whole shit's really fuckin' you."

"Guess so",Brian shrugged while grabbing some bottles from the fridge and passing a couple of them to Roman before walking outside, where everybody was already seated at a line of little round and white tables being neatly pushed together, waiting for him and Roman.

Diego was making a comment about what had taken him so long and that even women would not need that much time to do their make-up, naturally to tease Brian, yet, Suki kicked him underneath the table for it, feeling insulted. Diego, not having been prepared for anything likely, jumped back in surprise, falling back in his chair. Everybody else started to laugh and Brian to grin. He had an idea.

"Yo, Jimmy, do we have any half-empty bottles of nitrous lying around?"

The mechanic looked at him, irritated. "Sure, but I've already loaded you for spray."

"I'm thinking we may need it for something else", the blonde told him while smiling and pointing at the Yenko still being on the lift, "our cars may get a little crowded, you know?"


	17. Just Another Day

Just another day………

"So, you are saying that, even though you have been living in Miami for almost your entire life, you never made it your _home_? You never felt like you belonged here?" Lilly was walking next to Verone showing her around the property. They were just crossing over the _way too_ perfect trimmed green lawn being surrounded by beautiful beds of flowers. Orchids in all variations had caught Lilly's attention, just as well as the lilies the brunette had pointed out at. Afterwards, a five minute monologue had followed………..about the memories he connected to them.

The blonde had wondered about this due to Verone having given her the impression that he actually was an ordinary human being with emotions like everybody else. He had talked about his mother and his _home_, Argentina. In that moment, Lilly would have almost forgotten that Carter Verone was a dangerous murderer, almost, because then, he had mentioned the tiger lilies reminding him of her: beautiful and wild, yet, so fragile…………….and Lilly did not like being called _fragile_ due to it forcing her to recall having failed so often in life thus not having been strong enough. However, tiger lilies were the reason her friends called her _Tiger_. They had already had several dogs and a _Mouse_, so they had needed a cat – a tiger. Most of her friends worked in the X, therefore, they had once been dubbed _dogs_, or more precisely, _Diamond Dogs_.

The X was owned by Madame Rigot, an originally French woman having come to the States because of her having married an American business man who had, about fifteen years after a perfectly happy marriage, died in an accident with an airplane. So, Madame Rigot – the people close to her were allowed to call her Nathalie – had been left alone thus to the couple never having felt the need to become parents. Eventually, it had been in her husband's will that she should receive an old building within Miami and the money to do with it whatever she wanted. Nathalie, having always had the dream of creating a _second_ Moulin Rouge, had spent lots of time dealing with the administrations, the architects and her feelings of loss, but she had succeeded. She had turned the old building into a club – the X.

The location had been changed in 2002 into an exact rebuilt of the one from the movie with Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor after Nathalie having seen it. Lilly had once been shown pictures of what the X had looked like before 2002 and she preferred the new look much better. The "X" had been mind to remind people of the wings of a windmill. There was a giant red "X" in front of the building, turning slowly – it had also been added in 2002. Of course, while developing her concept for her _baby_, Nathalie had given second thought to her wish of creating another Moulin Rouge. She had not wanted to give people the impression that the X was a brothel of some kind – another reason for her eventually naming the club X. And, ever since people having seen the movie _Moulin Rouge_, the dancers and bartenders had been called _Diamond Dogs_. This was the highest title in Miami a dancer or a bartender could ever achive because to certain abilities being connected to it. Abilities everybody wished to have, yet, only few did. _Diamond Dogs_ were like Miami's royals, even though at times not obvious to everyone.

There were many special rules to be respected when one wanted to get into the hottest clubs in Miami and her friends had taught Lilly each single one. At first, Lilly had been shocked by how superficial they actually were, but, as Thomas had once explained it to her: "I know. You don't have to tell me twice. It's just like that: when you want to reach a certain status, you have to draw lines. If people are drunk and act like it, let's say, they become aggressive or vormit or behave like complete morons, we're gonna throw them out and they're never gonna be let in again. If people look like they wanna go to some freak show, we're not gonna let them in. You only become _exclusive_ by _excluding_ others. That's how it works."

And there were lots of reasons why one could be _excluded_. In Miami, there were six, maybe eight, clubs considered _hot_. X, Falls, V.I.P.e, Boca, Nisca and Vida. Tissla and Siempre had not made it yet into the upper league but they were about to. Another favourite club of Lilly's, the Phoenix, was not considered _high class_ because of it being a HipHop underground club, nonetheless, she loved battling, so she went there rather often, although being a white girl reduced her to a minority.

The _hot_ clubs of Miami had strict rules: no sneakers! That was why Brian would never see her dancing. He would just not be let in with his Converse Allstars. No women on heels under 5"10 would be let in. No guy under 6 feet would be let in. No people wearing denim or leather chaps would be let in. No people with a horrible make-up would be let in. No one under the age of twenty-one would be let in – of course, there was special treatment with _certain _people. On her sixteenth birthday, Lilly had gotten a fake ID from her friends which said that she was twenty-one. There were so many rules, the girl had lost track of them, yet, when seeing a person, she would always be able to say: "That one, no, that one, yes."

"Miss O'Conner? Are you listening?" Verone sounded……….._hurt_? The blonde wondered just how much of his talk she had missed because of her day-dreaming.

"I'm sorry. I did not sleep all too well. I guess I am still a little bit tired",she told him while looking at him and supressed a frown. She was taller than Verone, something she had not been noticing until now. She was on heels and she was taller than him. Strange. Very _strange_. Lilly thought that Verone was a little smaller than Brian – although _everybody_ except Marco and Mouse was smaller than Brian; him being damn 6"3 and a half. Verone had to be about 6 feet, so why was she a good two inches taller than he was?!

_C'mon, girl, worry later on about this, _she told herself_, there must be a reasonable explanation. Now, you better listen before he's talking you into something you don't want to happen at all._

"Is your bed not comfortable enough? Would you prefer _another one_?" The brunette raised his eyebrows in a way other females would have considered seducively, however, it made Lilly want to throw up.

"Thank you very much, Mister Verone, but I would _not_ prefer _yours_."

"Please excuse me. I did not mean to appear this impolite",they walked through an arch covered in red and pink roses. Behind it was the little building Lilly had seen from out of the window of her _guest room_.

"Here we are",Verone told her while laying his right arm around her waist to guide her towards the gates of the building. As though he had been giving a secret sign, two men were coming from another part of the yard to open the gates and then, left to return to………….whatever they were doing Lilly did not really care after having taken a look at what had been hidden in the building.

"This is a fucking 2003 Aston Martin Vanquish!" The girl exclaimed and immediately went to have a closer look at this treasure. Behind her, she heard Verone chuckling in amusement, but she did not care, there was an Aston Martin waiting for her.

"I wanted to save the best for last",the man told her, "you like it?"

"This is an _2003 Aston Martin Vanquish_!" Lilly repeated, not understanding why he even bothered to ask her. Was it not enough proof enouhg to him that she was already squatting down to take a look at the rims and tires?!

"I bought it last month and employed a garage to customize it a little",he said as he stood next to her, looking down her back. Everything he wished to do right now was to run his hands through her long golden locks and show her the back seat of the car. He had not tested it, yet.

"I've already noticed that much",the girl answered while standing up, "ceramic breaks, Fusion ZRX tyres, customized rims – you don't find any like these in a catalogue. The fenders are a little wider because of the tyres. You had the vehicle lowered, as well. This is not the original body kit, either. A new front bumper, new grille, some side-skirts, a low rear wing",she walked around the car, "new tail lights and a different exhaust. Hm, chrome, nice choice. The way the trunk is shaped is also different. The Vanquish coupe standard costs about 210.000 dollars and with all of these changes on the exterior and, from what I can see through the window, on the interior as well, I'd say, plus fifty, maybe sixty, these noble garages always cheat on their customers. So, eventually, you paid like what? Two sixty, two seventy?"

Verone just regarded the girl in amazement. He had never seen anybody checking a car like that: in such time and with such a casuality!

"I paid 265.000 dollars",he informed her after some gaping.

"Tej would have done it for way less and at a higher quality."

"Who?"The man frowned.

"Tej. Tej Parker. He's my employer",Lilly shrugged, asking herself how Carter Verone could not know Tej. _Although, like I know Tej, he would not want to spend time with anybody like Verone._

"Your skills are extremely impressive, Miss O'Conner. I am speechless."

_Well good. That way, I'll no longer have to listen to this bastard's really flattering compliments._

Suddenly, a phone rang. Obviously Verone's mobile phone. He quickly took it out of the pocket of his trousers and answered it.

"Yes?"

Lilly just stood there, trying to figure out what the call was about by reagarding the emotions reflected on Verone's face. Now, he looked as casual as always.

"Really?"

Some concern washed over him, expressed by his slightly clenched jaw.

"Did you……….?"

He became tense. The fingers of his left hand started to drum against his left upper thigh.

"Alright, yes."

And then, there he was again, the arrogant bastard.

"I'll be right there." He hung up, put the phone back into his pocket and then turned to address Lilly.

"I am very sorry that I don't have the time to show you the Ferrari as well",he pointed at the second car within the garage that was separated in to parts by something that seemed to be Verone's personal gas station – a single column full of gas right next to two cars and several gas bottles. Lilly smiled innerly. Her plan had a great chance to succeed.

"I don't mind. I'm still here until tomorrow evening six o'clock."

"Let me take you back inside, then",he offered her his arm which she decided to ignore and just walked past him.

After having a door leading inside opened by the brunette, Lilly was greeted by the sight of her _favourite_ _guys ever_: the jerks having brought her to the compound this very early morning. If she had just left the Club together with Will or anybody else………hell, Will had even offered to drive her home, yet, Lilly had refused it because she really like going by bus. Going by bus always gave her the time to reflect on things, to think about them, to relax, to lean back and to watch the world outside passing by, although she was the one in motion. It was exactly the same with her way to school. She walked it each day, using the time to breath through, to prepare herself mentally for the upcoming horror of highschool……………_nah, it's not that bad. Most of the lessons suck, but the people are all great, except for Anders and the other three idiots he calls his friends._

Lilly was actually quite popular at school. She got along well with many different people due to her not judging anybody beforehand. Bias were something she did not like all too much because of them disabling people. Guys liked her due to her working at Tej's – that news had gone around school like a spreat fire – knowing about cars, sports and such types of music like Rock and Metal…………….she had literally grwon up with them due to Brian. She knew about the Choppers, Slayer, Iron Maiden, Led Zepplin, Pink Floyd, the Ramones, Motörhead, Damageplan, Metallica, Black Sabbath, Nirvana, Guns 'n Roses and so many more…………the girl loved Linkin Park as well, she had already spent hours listening to Meteora right after having bought it – Brian did not like them that much. He preferred the groups he had grown up with. Still, although liking some of what those bands had produced, her true passion was HipHop. Hip Hop just made her want to move, to shake each part of her body so mad as though there was no such thing like gravity. It was like a fire burning underneath her skin, demanding to be let out. Hip Hop was life, dancing was life, it was everything to her. The blonde loved the motion so much. Actually, each type of music, except for rock and metal, gave her this certain itching: classic music always woke within her the urge to stand on her toes, to do pirouettes and leap through the air, pop made her want to repeat the latest choreography she had learnt at the Club, yet, Hip Hop, that was soemthing else. She would start to use everything she had ever learnt and put it into the dance: ballet, break dance, salsa, tango, belly dance, even acrobatics such as somersaults backwards and forwards, cords, flic flacs which she had learnt and tried to get them to perfection over the last years.

Girls liked her because she was one to talk to, one to listen and to help others………..and she would show them some of her moves every now and then. The captain of the volleyball team had already asked her several times to join, just like the captain of the cheerleaders, who happened to be Mike Anders sister, yet, Melissa Anders was really a great person – the _Queen of Miami Jefferson High_. MJ High. Of course, Lilly had been kind of confused when Melissa had asked her, but this was understandable. The blonde did not think of herself as one being able to _cheer_ the whole time, she preferred smashing balls and causing bleeding noses. It had happened during her first practise at MJ High after not having played volleyball for over a year. She had started doing it together with Cathy and when Cathy had died………….so, Lilly's body had gone through some physical changes over the year, she was stronger now and had underestimated herself. She remembered everybody else's reaction: "Can you do that again? But this time, like, not to one of our team-mates but, like, to an opponent?"

"I'll be leaving with Enrique and Roberto",Verone said,"Federico here",he pointed at a guy standing in a far corner of the wide room, "leads you upstairs. You're going to spend the evening with me."He smiled at her, his eyes glinting in a way that made Lilly feel threatened. She watched Verone and the guys leave before her _personal security guard_ indicated her to walk in front of him.

Inside of _her _room, she heard the door being locked from the outside and sat down on the bed, a sigh of frustration escaping her throat.

Lilly just let her upper body fall onto the soft covers and inhaled deeply several times to calm herself down before opening the little silver buckles of her high heels.

She then took one of the shoes into her right hand and regarded it thoroughly.

_The heel's about three inches……….I was about two inches taller then Verone who's about six feet. 6"2 on heels……….this would mean I was 5"11. I ain't that tall, am I? Okay, the last time I was measured properly has been in February, but it is impossible that I've grown that much since then, isn't it? I would have noticed, right? Well, there is such thing like a "final shot" but almost four inches?! I was 5"7 and a half back in February. As for the clothing……...well, I dance almost each day and I work at Tej's, so, of course, I gained some muscles and some weight. I weighed, like, 125 before we came here. Now, I weigh about 140. If I had grwon, this would definitely explain why I gained so much. Fifteen pounds within five months………although Brian's happy about it. He always fears that I might get bulimic…………again. Last year was really shit. Cathy dies. Brian cheats on Lisa and she breaks up with him. I guess I would have done the same. They've been together for almost three years and he risks it all by getting drunk at his friend's bachelor party and afterwards laying the stripper having jumped out of the cake. Hell, I was so mad at him back then. He was so mad at himself…………..and at everybody else, even me, although it was definitely not my fault. It was summer, I had turned fifteen a couple of months ago………….finally, my curves started growing. Some ass, some hips, from some waist to tiny waist, some b-cups that are now c-cups. I also got my cheekbones and my lips. I was happy about it, yet sad that Cathy could not see it………..though, maybe she does. I was worried about Brian. He was so down. Did not shower, did not shave, did not go to work for a while………..he barely ate and when I told him I was worried and that he should at least eat, he yelled at me. He yelled that someone would have to eat less because I would have gained enough weight two. It hurt so much. There's this one person meaning everything to you and he's saying something like that. He was not even sorry, at least not for some time. Not until he noticed how thin I had suddenly gotten. Back then, I still believed he was everything I had and that he could not be wrong because he had once told me that, when somebody was mad, he would always say the truth – what he was really thinking. They use this knowledge when interrogating people. This one day, he embraced me and told me that he was sorry for having been so down and that he would now try to go back to normal. He then lifted me off the ground like he usually does it when hugging me tight. I felt his arms around me tighten, as though being frozen to ice. He put me back down onto the floor and looked at me in shock. I was wearing wide clothes. I did not like being so thin, I was ashamed of showing it. Brian laid his hands around what had once been my waist and felt nothing but my ribs underneath the thin layer of skin. "How much you weigh?" He asked me in shock, still not taking his widened eyes off of me. "Dunno",I answered. It was true. I did not know because I did not want to know. It would just make me cry. He took me to the bathroom and made me step on the scales. They were cold under my feet. Brian and I never bother to wear shoes within our home. He made me stay backwards as well, so that I would not see how much I weighed, but I could judge by his whispered "Oh my….." that it had not been all too much. I had to spend the summer in a clinic. There, I was told that I weighed about 95 pounds at my arrival. I left after three months with 110 pounds. Afterwards, I always had to go to therapy two times a week, Brian made sure that he saw me eating and controlled my weight as well. I've never seen him like that. So sorry. He was blaming himself like I've never witnessed it before. Then, at the end of the year, he got the job with Dom and his team. The year ended soon. We chose Dom over our life in L.A. and came to Miami. Brian's still eager to see me stepping on the scales once a week to control my weight. At first, I was shocked when I had gone over 125 but I never saw it. I could look into the mirror and always wondered where the hell I had gained the weight. I could never see it. So, maybe I grew without actually noticing. When we go shopping, it's usually Sugar, Will, Ray, Anthony, Lola and V who come up with clothes for me to try on. Marisa doesn't. She always tells me that I am old enough to know what I want to wear, nonetheless, she still has this dream of me wearing nice dresses with spaghetti straps and flower patterns. I prefer my Dolce and Gabbana leather pants and boots, topped with the red leather corsage Anthony tailored for me. People are staring at me every time I wear this outfit – with the proper make-up, of course. The securities of the clubs already know me so well that, when they see me walking up, they sometimes even bow to me…………..to watch my ass, like they say. It's fun. Lola says they're only doing it to tease us dancers, but she doesn't mind either. "Having the securitiy as your friend, can only be helpful",and Lola was right on that one. I know that it's not right, but hell, I just love seeing those skanks' faces when I even get the security to bow for me while they ain't let inside. So, I've grown. Of course, I must have grown. I usually dance with Will, who's 6"2 and when I'm on heels, I can, depending on the shoes I'm wearing, look him straight into the eye. Why did this never occure to me before? Ha, I'm as tall as Sugar then! Damn model, 5"11 tall, legs without an end! Although, she's wearing heels non-stop, so that she's actually 6"2 or 6"3. Hey! This means that, on heels, I'm as tall as Brian! Cool! And, of course, on toe shoes, I'll be even taller. Let's say seven inches, give or take, so that I'd be 6"6. I'd be taller than my big bro! But he doesn't know me doing ballet………….shit! If he has noticed that I've grown? Maybe, but why hasn't he told me, then? _

A sudden knock on the door followed by the sound of a key being turned around in the lock made the girl literally jump up from her thoughts. The person coming in was the woman she had seen earlier at the pool. _The agent Brian wants to lay_, her traitorous mind added.

"Hey",the brunette with blonde dyed strands said while rushing over to the bed, "you okay? Did he do anything to you?"

"No, I'm fine. As fine as I can be, considering the circumstances",the girl answered and stuck out her hand – she had been raised to politeness, "I'm Lilly. Lilliana O'Conner."

"Hi, I'm Monica Fuentes",the woman laughed at the blonde's calmness. She truly was Brian's sister. "You and your brother really look alike",she said out loud. It was astonishing how much the siblings resembled each other.

"Yeah, we get that a lot. I don't see it, maybe the eyes and the curly hair, but, I dunno", she shrugged and grinned at the older female being completely amazed by the similarities.

_And the grin_, Monica thought. It was the same charm that connected the siblings as well.

"We don't have much time. Carter ordered one of the guys to have an eye on me. So, you know what's going on?"

"Yeah. Brian and Rome are to bring him the money tomorrow evening. Verone's taking off for good and says that he'll let me go after having gotten his money. Yet, I would say that this is all bullshit and he'll just kill each one of us",Lilly raised her right index finger, "but I got a plan to escape, still, I need someone who knows the house to help me carry it out."

"Well good, here I am",Monica smiled. She liked the girl. This was not just some stupid cry-baby, although, with Brian as an older brother and the story she had heard about the O'Conner siblings, she could have guessed that much herself.

"It's actually quite easy. Outside, there is this garage, with cars and petrol and bottles full of gas, right?"

"Yeah, Carter does not like _his babies_ to be standing in the rain. He also hates stopping at gas stations, so he gets his gas here."

"So, and in this wardrobe over there",Lilly pointed her finger at it, "is a pretty nice bar. All sorts of liquor. And, I got a lighter, so?"She grinned evilly.

Monica snickered. "So, you need to know how to get out of here without my help, because my room is downstairs. That's easy. Just walk down the hall to the stairs, down the stairs and then, the second door to the right. The main entrance is right in front of you and nobody's going to guard it when Carter's babies are burning out",the brunette tilted her head to the side, "but what then? We'll meet outside, run like hell and then what? How to get away from here? I can't just call the U.S. customs."

"Well, ain't there, like, four cars standing in the drive?"The girl asked slightly confused.

"Yes, why………….?"Monica's voice trailed off and she shook her head no. "You truely are his sister. By all meanings."

"I'll just hot-wire one of them and then, we'll be on our way. I do the driving and you give me directions. However, we have to do it, like, twenty or fifteen minutes before Roman's and Brian's window is open. That way, Verone is not gonna have the time to change his plans, even if we're missing."

"Their run starts at six. They have fifteen minutes. Carter will be leaving the house at six as well. It would be too dangerous for him to leave earlier",Monica already planned the scenario in mind.

"What cars does he have on the drive?"Lilly suddenly questioned and received a funny look. "What? I just wanna know, so that I can directly go for the fastest. When I arrived, I saw a Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe, a Ferrari 360 Modena and I thought that I saw the glimpse of a Lotus. There was also another car, however, it was too dark for me to see what make………",another knock on the door made the women jump.

"I'll take care of this and tell you later on. Don't worry, everything's gonna be fine",Monica quickly whispered into Lilly's ear while carressing the girl's cheek with her hand to comfort her before a tall man in a dark suit entered the room.

"Miss Fuentes",he started, "Mister Verone did not wish you to see his guest. I thought that much was clear to you."

"C'mon",the blonde said while raising from the bed, "she just wanted to see if I'm fine in here and to take care of a proper dress for me to wear it tonight. Mister Verone wants to spend the evening with me, so I have to look acceptable. Miss Fuentes just came here to get my measures."

"Exactly",Monica underlined, wondering at the rapid speed in which the girl had come up with such good a lie.

"Well, then, may I still advice you to leave the room, now that you've got what you wanted?"The guy rather demanded than asked.

"Of course",Monica walked past him, but before leaving the room, she turned around once more, "I'll be bringing you the dress and some shoes later. Do you also wish some jewelery?"

"No, thank you. I don't like it all too much",Lilly answered and watched Monica as well as the guy leave. The door was locked, again.

_So, this is Brian's latest. Not bad. I've got a strange feeling about her, though. The only one I ever really trusted was Lisa. I liked Mia but I knew about the trouble she meant to us, I did not trust her. She was just somebody Brian was with, like all of the others before. The ones that were jealous of me and claimed Brian was spending too much time with me. They did not accept that there was another girl in his life, even it was just his little sister. Some of those bitches even slapped me or threatened me when Brian had spent an anfternoon or an evening with me instead of them. He doesn't know. I never told him. I wanted him to be happy, so I bit my tongue. That's why I'm usually not around when Brian has a woman at home, I don't want to lie to my brother, again. They freaked especially when he put me in his lap and cuddled with me. By now, I don't like cuddling with him anymore, simply because of my physical changes. I just don't like my chest being pressed tightly against his. That's a no-no. I don't sleep in his bed either, except for the time we stayed on Tej's boat and had to share a bed. It is definitely not a nice thing to get woken up in the middle of the night by something poking into your hip that does not belong to your boyfriend but to your older brother. Then, there were the air-heads. Nothing but air put into a body. Those were usually trying to turn me into a girly-girl. Talked with me about hairstyles and make-up and boys. They talked, I listened. I had nothing to say to them, except maybe for "what you thinkin' 'bout the current political situation within the States?" Though, I did not say this to them. I bit my tongue. Brian seemed to be happy, so there just had to be some good about the air-heads as well. Lisa was different. She was, like, less air-head and more mom. She never gave me the feeling that I was unwanted. I even heard her once talking to Brian about him spending more time with me. "Brian, she'll soon be a teenager. She needs your support, then. I'm not asking you to go and buy her some bras, however, you guys should be doing things together more often. Take her to the beach, for example. You go there each week to surf. Why don't you show her? She might like it and that way, you would share something. Teenage girls are very complicated, believe me. Give her the feeling that you'll be there when she needs you." Hell, Lisa has really been one of a kind. And Brian fucks it all up………..asshole! Although, surfing's really much fun. I'm pretty good due to me dancing. I got a great center of balance. Even won some contests back in L.A.. But after Cathy died…………..I started surfing again when we moved here, just like the volleyball. Cathy would have wanted me to do so, to go on living. Brian doesn't know. I mean……….he has more important things to deal with than that and I don't wanna give him the impression that everything's going back to normal, cos it ain't. So, I keep my mouth shut. Even when we're going to the beach and he asks me to rent a surf board as well, I just shake my head no, telling him that I don't want to. Or when we go together with the crew and they wanna play volleyball, I refuse playing. I just lie there, read a little, do some sketches – doodles – while Suki's giving me a speech about me not wearing a bikini or a swimsuit is not acceptable. And then, Brian will tell her to stop brainwashing me because it is completely okay, if I don't wear bikinis or swimsuits. And then, Diego will fantasize aloud about me wearing something so tight and bearing so much of my body. And then, Brian will chase after him, telling him that I am sixteen and still go to school. And then, we'll all laugh. I guess I ain't wearing those things because of Brian, because when I'm out with my "crazy family", I usually wear bikinis and I really enjoy the appreciative stares I get. Brian does not appreciate me looking sexy even though I like it. I like feeling sexy…………….what the hell did I talk myself into?! Wearing a dress while being with Verone? Evil!! Evil and stupid! Oh well, at least, I now know how to get outta here. Down the hall, down the stairs, second door to the right, main entrance. Hello freedom._

Lilly got up and walked, still barefoot, around the room to take a look at her reflection in the mirror that was hung up next to the left side of the wardrobe. In front of it stood a little table with a chair. It was one one those _make-up tables_. Lilly had learnt to love them over the last couple of months because, in the clubs, those tables belonged to the closets. The dancers would have access to the closet – to the latest designer fashion - and showers just as well as some place – the tables – to put on their make-up. That way, they would not have to go home first to change and to smell decent. Lilly was grateful for it. If Brian smelled how she reeked after having spent a night in the clubs, he would get suspicious.

Taking in her reflection, Lilly frowned.

_How shall I do my hair this evening? Well, let's make it depending on the dress. And the make-up? Hmm. That depends also on the dress. A simple and elegant dress, an invisible make-up. An eye-catching dress, a visible make-up emphasizing my features._

Even though she knew exactly that she would have a _date_ with Verone, she owned it to herself to look magnificent. Eventually, she might have the chance to cloud his mind a little from the obvious.

Lilly looked at the clock. It was now 12.16 p.m..

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

7.24 p.m.. Lilly O'Conner was standing in the bathroom in front of the full length mirror, checking herself over again for the thousandth time. She was nervous because of the _date_, but definitely not in a good way.

She had spent the entire day in her room. At first, she had tried to catch some sleep to make up for the one she had missed during the night and it had indeed worked. She had slept until three o'clock then, somebody had knocked on her door to bring her a little snack, something to drink and the clothes she was wearing now. It had, unfortunately, not been Monica. Lilly prayed that nothing had happened to her.

After having eaten the snack and drunk almost half of the bottle of water, she had taken a closer look to what she was supposed to be wearing. It was a black dress made out of a very thin material, not quite chiffon but close to it. It was actually cut to knee length, yet, there was a cut on the left front side around which the fabric had been cut into slight ruffles. This cut was so high that it almost revealed Lilly's entire leg, nevertheless, she could cope with it. The blonde had long, slender muscular legs, so why not showing them?

The thin fabric was literally clad to her body, showing of her every curve……………and, therefore, forbidding her to wear any underwear. The neckline was just deep enough to give people a good look at her cleavage. Neither was this a problem for Lilly. She had always taken good care of her body, especially of her breasts due to once having seen the picture of a woman's breasts which had hung down so much that they had almost touched the floor. So, she had used lotions to strengthen her skin, worked out to strengthen her muscles and the reward consisted of a perfect 36 c-cup, as perky as one could wish them to be. The others hated her because of that. It was a game to them: everybody would tell the others what he or she liked most about his or her body and all of the others would hate him or her for it. Lilly liked her three B's: breasts, belly and butt.

Nonetheless, the girl did not favour the thought of not wearing a thong or a panty, although being used to it. There just happened to be some trousers within the girl's wardrobe underneath which she could simply not wear anything………….not that Brian knew about this.

Unfortunately, the dress was cut so that it was completely revealing Lilly's back. An inch lower and people would be able to see her crack! The dress was held up by merely one single strap connecting the left and the right on the backside. It was about quarter of an inch thick and had to be laid around the neck. So, it began at the upper left on the back, went around the frontside of Lilly's neck and then ended at the upper right on the back.

It was a simple but elegant dress with a Spanish flare to it. The girl had decided to wear her hair open – to cover at least a certain amount of her back – and she had put on an invisible make-up. Black eye-liner and mascara, some bronzing powder to highlighten her cheekbones and a pearl lip-gloss. Verone had even gone so far to send her some perfumes, however, Lilly's favourite, Hugo Deep Red, had not been amongst them, so she had settled for Pleasure.

She had also done her fingernails. Lilly liked to have natural French nails, therefore, she always kept them a couple of millimetres long and then, filed them diagonal at the sides. She had painted her nails over with a clear nail polish, just like her toe nails.

The high heels the blonde had received were about four inches high and consisted of three straps: two crossing over her toes and one with a little gold buckle around her angle.

She looked like sex on legs. She knew it, even though she did not want to look like that for Verone, but for herself. Looking like sex and feeling like it gave her confidance. Confidance she might need later on this night.

7.28 p.m..

A knock on the door. Lilly quickly straightened the fabric once more by running her fingers down her body before walking into the main room where the guy, Federico, was already waiting. His eyes widened when seeing her and he swallowed. Afterwards, he tried to form some words, obviously to tell her that it was time for her to leave, but he did not quite succeed in doing so. He just stammered.

"Mmm….Mister Ver….Verone's…….w…..waiting."

"I'm coming",Lilly smiled at him, while pitying on him at the same time. She grabbed the little black purse that had as well been sent to her and then walked past Federico into the hall. The man closed the door and she knew exactly that he was staring at her ass, therefore, she decided to shake her hips wider than she usually did.

_Playing with them can be so much fun_, she thought and suppressed an evil smile while descending the stairs.

Downstairs, Verone was standing with several other men, evidently members of his security, and gave them orders………….at least, until he heard her heels clacking on the stone stairs. All of them turned their heads around……………and gaped or gasped, eyes widened as though in shock.

"Mister Verone",Lilly tilted her head slightly to the left as a sign of greeting the man who just kept on staring.

"Miss O…..O'Conner. I am……..I am…….you see me speechless",he finally brought out, a surprised and appreciating look on his face.

"Well, that would be the second time today then, right?"The blonde closed the distance between them with smooth elegant steps to give Verone and the others some time to get adjusted to her good looks. Another thing Brian and she had in common. Both of them could cause this effect on people.

"It seems like…….like it",Verone cleared his throat, appearently to regain his employees' attention. "That would be everything. I presume we will stay out at least until midnight. Miss O'Conner",he offered her his arm which she, this time, accepted, "I am not able to find any words which could describe your looks. I guess _perfect_ or _irresistible_ are just not enough."

"Thank you very much",Lilly smiled slightly, happy about the fact that she was indeed turning his head around. This could be of great use to her.

Outside, a long black limousine was standing. The brunette opened her the door and she slit inside. Verone sat down as well, closed the door and gave the driver the order to start the engine.

"So",the blonde looked at the man, "where are you taking me?"

"Surprise",he smiled, "but, until we arrive, may I offer you something to drink? Wine? Vodka? Champagne?"

"I thought you would save the best for last?"She leaned against the backrest, brushing her bangs out of her face and over her shoulder.

"I guess you are right. The drive is not going to last longer than twenty minutes. It would be foolish."

"Indeed".

For the next ten minutes, neither of them was talking to the other one due to Verone's phone ringing again. Lilly used the time to regard the world outside, desperately trying to figure out where they were possibly going to, yet, a highway was a highway was a highway………….at dusk. The sun would be setting in an hour or so.

The driver turned the limousine to the right and a short amount of time later to the left. The outside was changing every minute now. Lilly guessed they had entered the upper side of Miami, where all the celebrities used to spend their time.

_And my "family" and me when we're on a shopping tour_, she smiled, remembering the last blast they had had, _although, the stars and wanna-bes are also coming to the clubs. Some of them even invite us every now and then to dance at their parties._ But, for dancers, it was not allowed to accept such offerings. "We are not some brothel!"Thomas had said.

The car stopped. Lilly could hear how the driver got out and ran around the car to open Verone's door. The brunette just ended his call.

"I am sorry for this interruption",he told her while getting out and afterwards offering her his hand.

"Thank you",the blonde slit over the leather seats, took his hand and stepped out onto a red carpet covering the sidewalk. They walked inside.

Lilly read the name "Dias" above the entrance which made an inner bell ring. The "Dias" was one of the top restaurants in Miami.

Inside, everything was rather _high class_. The floors, the carpets, the furniture, the deco, even the guests. She gained many eyes looking at her, following her every move. The couple was led to a table in the back of the restaurant. The blonde wondered whether or not this was kind of a V.I.P. lounge. The thought of a V.I.P. lounge within high class restaurants and clubs had confused her at first, but she had soon gotten accustomed to it, when her family had shown her around the V.I.P. lounges of the clubs.

Their table was already neatly set with expensive crystal and polished silver. They were seated opposite to each other. To Lilly's left, they could look over the other people in the restaurant and to her right, they had a giant window giving them the panorama of the harbour where the yachts were moving slightly up and down because of the motion of the water.

"They're all regarding you",Verone suddenly stated.

"They're just wondering where to get the plastic surgery they think I have had."

"Have you ever been on a boat?"The man asked while letting his eyes wander over the yachts in the far distance.

"The house boat excluded, no",Lilly smiled. It had been fun to live there with Brian, at least for most of the time.

"A house boat? When did you have to stay on a house boat?"

"A few months ago, after my brother and I _moved_ here",the girl raised her eyebrows at the term "moved".

"Horrible",Verone chuckled, "didn't you complain about it?"

"I complained less than I did when we moved into the apartment",she grinned at the memory, "appearantly, my brother and I had very different opinions about pretty much everything."

"Really?"

"Oh, yeah. We shared views concerning walls, floors and which room would be used what for, but that was pretty much it. I wanted a normal TV, he _just had to have_ a fourty inches plasma TV………with dolby surround sound, of course. I wanted a normal bed, it had to be bigger than a normal bed. Fortunately, there was no arguing about the kitchen and the bathroom."

"How's that?"The brunette was evidently amused by her stories.

"I said: 'Either you let me decide what to do with the kitchen and the bathroom, or you don't get to have the Playstation 2 and the stereo you want so much'."

Carter Verone had to laugh. It was a deep laugh, coming from the depths of his stomach.

"What's so funny?"Lilly wanted to know.

"Nothing, just",the man breathed in deeply, "I have met your brother. The image of him being told what to do and what not to do by you is somehow hilarious and amazing at the same time."

"That's nothing. I've got other stories to tell",the blonde smiled.

"I am looking forward to an evening of magnificent entertainment, then."

Two waiters came to their table, one filling their glasses with water and red wine, the other bringing their food.

"I already ordered when I reserved the table",the man told the girl.

"Oh, well",she raised her glass filled with wine.

"Cheers",Verone said and they clacked their glasses together. He watched the girl taking a sip of the red liquid, content about the fact that she had not noticed that the wine she had received had not been taken from the bottle the wine in his glass was out of.

When reserving the table, Carter Verone had made sure that his _special requests_ concerning the girl's food and drinks would be taken care of.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"You're kidding me, right? Please, Carter, tell me that you're kidding me,"Lilly laughed about the story the man in front of her was just telling.

"No, I swear, it happened exactly like that. I was staying there, at this party, in the middle of the crowd and this old woman, so drunk that she's mistaking me for one of her ex-husbands, started insulting me. She called me a bastard for cheating on her and using her and so on. It was the most embarrassing moment in my entire life",he laughed as well. They had arrived at the "Dias" three hours ago and the drugs he had wanted the staff to mix under Lilly's food and into her drinks worked very well. She was now way more willing to accept him rather as a man than as an enemy…………she was even willing to call him by his surname and allowed him to call her Lilly, too.

"I wished I would have been there",the girl giggled.

"No, you don't",Carter affirmed sternly.

"Now why so grumpy? You have to smile. Otherwise people may think I've kidnapped you."

"How could I not smile in your company?"And he flashed her a bright smile while looking deep into her blue eyes. He had wondered about those. Sometimes, they seemed to be a dark saphire blue but once light hit them, they turned into the most beautiful ice blue.

"How late is it?"Lilly suddenly asked him.

"It's, oh no. It's already 11.12.."

"What is so bad about it being 11.12 ? The night is still young",she told him with a raised index finger.

"Yes, but do you remember the phone call I received on our way here? It was one of my partners. He wished to see me at one o'clock in a club for a meeting. Unfortunately, I can't take you there with me",he covered the girl's hand lying on the table with his, "don't be sad. We have to go now."

"One should never put his business above his private life",she answered but got up from her chair nonetheless.

"Believe me, I am sorry",he said while they walked out of the "Dias". The limousine was already waiting in front of it, the driver having opened the door.

Lilly and Carter got in and were soon on their way back to the compound which they spent with Carter continuing his story.

Back at the mansion, everything was quiet, merely a light breeze made the leaves rustle.

Carter laid his arm around the blonde's waist and led her inside where they were greeted by the sight of several security guards. Climbing up the stairs to the first floor, Lilly suddenly felt Carter embracing her from behind and kissing her neck.

"Carter, please",she tried to move aside but his arms prevented it.

"Just relax. The perfect ending of a perfect evening",he whispered against her skin and continued his lips way up to her ear.

"Oh, Carter",Lilly's body felt the strong urge to give in, however, in her mind, wheels began to turn. When had she actually started calling him by his surname? Why had she started doing so? Why was she allowing him to touch her like that? Where were they?

The blonde opened her suddenly heavy eyelids and saw the hall leading to her room within the mansion. Several feet before they would have reached the door, though, the man behind her turned her around and pressed her with his body against the wall, kissing her deeply.

_This is wrong,_ Lilly's mind told her,_ this is no good. _But why was her body giving in to it, then? Why did she not contradict? What was happening with her?

All of the sudden, Lilly's heartbeat sped up. She was scared. Her mind told her what to do, yet, her body did not react to its commands. What was going on?!

She felt Verone's hands roaming over her body.

"Please, no",she whispered, but he just kept on doing these things: kissing her collarbone, carressing her butt.

"No, stop it, please",she could not do anything. She was helpless. Her body was not reacting to what her mind wanted to do. She wanted to beat the shit out of Verone………she could not. She could just lean against this wall behind her and feel him doing to her whatever he desired.

_I have to do something, I have to_, Lilly kept on telling herself while feeling hot tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Oh, gorgeous. If you only knew what you're demanding. You're beautiful", Verone told her while licking her cleavage. He then let his hands run over her butt and began to lift up the skirt of the dress.

That moment, Lilly panicked and the panic seemed to free some hidden strength inside of her.

"No!"She pushed the man away from her as far as she could and tried to look at him as good as possible.

"What did you do to me?"She asked him.

"It's nothing bad, just a mild drug to relax you a little",he responded, "don't be scared of this.You will enjoy it."He was about to reach for her again, this time, the girl still managed to move aside.

"You bastard",the blonde whispered. Her body was too weak to allow her to yell.

"I am not a bastard, Lilly. I am a man. A very generous man, but nonetheless a man",Verone eyed the girl in front of him. She was scared, tears were running over her cheeks. This was not the woman he had wanted to conquer, this was just a desperated little girl and even Carter Verone knew what dignity meant, "still, my mother _did_ teach me some manners and we still have some time left until tomorrow evening. I expect you to answer my question during the day."He grabbed her arm gently and walked her into her room where he made her sit down on the bed.

"What question?"The girl piped.

"If you wish to die or", he kissed her long and hard, "to survive."Then, the brunette left, locking the door behind his back.

Lilly literally collapsed onto the bed.

This night, she cried herself to sleep………………….like she had already done it so many times before in her life.


	18. Do or Die

Do or Die

Lilly had not done anything strenuous this day, yet. Just having lain in bed and having tried very hard to gain the upper hand over the strong urge to throw up having been caused by the drug Verone had given her the evening before.

If she had had to vormit, so the girl had known exactly, she would not have made it in time into the bathroom. Hell, she probably would not have even managed to get out of the bed without losing her equilibrium.

However, none of this had actually been new to the blonde. She had experienced this kind of feeling sick many times before. After having been drunk for the first time, at thirteen, after having been high on pot for the first time, also at the age of thirteen, after having taken XTC for the first time, a couple of months ago. Ray had taught her some rules concerning drugs and alcohol: Never take more than two pills when you are drinking more than two glasses, no matter what of. Never drink various types of alcohol during a night – you will only get drunk even faster and the hangover even worse. Try not to smoke more than two joints. Lilly had smiled at that. _Two_ was a magic number.

"Cos it takes two things t' ma' me 'appy",Ray had once affirmed, "good sex an' me, havin' good sex."

Nonetheless, after having lain under the soft covers for some time, Lilly had finally decided to leave the bed, knowing that otherwise, her physical status would not become any better.

It had been 1 p.m., so she had been asleep for more than twelve hours. Still, while having sat up in her bed, her head banging like mad, the girl had had the feeling that the nightmare had only just begun, now that she was awake and, therefore, would have to face Verone again.

_Verone,_ she had thought, massaging her temples to make the room stop turning around, _Carter Verone._

Carter Verone. The arrogant bastard having tried to rape her yesterday evening. Having given her drugs to _achieve_ his _goal_.

_He gives some 16-year-old drugs to be able to lay her,_ she had actually wanted to say out loud with disgust, yet, the idea of having to open her mouth had, somehow, appeared as a bad one to her.

_Keep your mouth shut, that way, you can't puke that easily._

Although, Lilly was not really that angry with Verone than with herself. How could she have been so naïve to presume she would have been able to make him believe in her act? Why had she not paid more attention to the taste of the food or of the drinks? She should have known! She should have prevented it from happening!

The girl knew this feeling. The feeling that everything was her fault, although people would be telling her that it was not. She had already heard that kind of talk. When her mother had left them, when her father had beaten the shit out of her on a regular basis, when Cathy had died, when she had become bulimic…………….so many times, but it had never been of any use. She had once read this behaviour was only normal, people blaming themselves for actions they were not responsible for. Lilly even thought she might have heard a name for this syndrome once, but she could not remember. The doctors had said everything would be depending on her, on her decision. Whether or not she wanted to blame herself. They had said it that, one day, it could happen that she will realize it and finally start to recognize the mistakes other people had made her suffer from. Like the cork of a bottle of champagne when being open. 'Plop!' and the barrier would be gone.

This day had not come yet, however, Lilly prayed for it to come……………..to put an ending to the emotions coming up inside of her whenever she looked into a mirror.

_Don't brood right now,_ Lilly had said to herself_, it costs way too much energy and it'll only make your head ache become worse. Focus on something else. Just try not to think. Outch! I hate hangovers so much, they're almost worse than the pain I'm in when I'm on my period. Brian only smiled at me, then. Hell, he already wants to get babied and pitied on when he has just managed to cut himself or to get a black and blue, while I even go to work with that damn throbbing in my abdomen, giving me anything but a moment of peace. Yet, it's quite funny when I've got my red days because I always get to be the one using the bathroom first, then. My bro's even willing to leave it when he's inside, although actually not having much of a choice. I'll just say:' okay bro, you don't wanna leave, fine with me, but then, you'll have to watch your little sister shoving a tampon up her vagina'. The first time I told him, he just grinned and stayed, thinking that I was joking, but when I pulled down my panty – I was wearing an oversize-shirt, so that everything was still covered – he mumbled something about me being way too feisty and eventually left. By now, he sometimes threatens that he will just stay inside, convinced by the fact that I would not do it in front of him, however, I think I would. Ever since I have started spending time with Spike, Sugar and V, I have literally received a shock therapy. One morning in March, I had slept the night at Sugar's and Spike's, he casually walked into the kitchen, completely naked. Ray definitely has no problem with nudity because he had once been together with Sugar, so that she knew how he looked without any clothes, nonetheless, I hadn't. I've spilled my juice over the table and he merely laughed. 'C'mon, he had smiled seducively, don' act as though you wouldn wanna see me like tha'. Ta' a good look, y'll never see anythin' this fine.' Sugar had scowled, telling him not to scare me like that, but Ray hadn't cared. 'She's bloody sixteen',he had snorted, 'I bet our tiger here's 'ready had the chance to 'read' soddin' Playgirl, righ'?'He had wiggled his eyebrows at 'read'. Anyways, during the last months, I got more and more accustomed to his way of dealing with nudity and I think it's really cool. He's proud of his body, so why not showing it off? It's not like he's walking around town like that, only at home. The same goes for the guys' ritual. Every time we're on our way to Cooper's in the early hours of the morning to get breakfast there after having partied through the night, there's this certain hill where the teenagers usually go to 'enjoy the view', so to speak, to make out in their cars. We will parc the cars close to the top of the hill and the guys will form a line, one standing next to the other, and they will let down their pants, so that we, the girls still sitting in the cars, will see their asses……………and some fine asses they've got. And then, they will piss down into the little chasm at the north side of the hill. Afterwards, we will have breakfast at Cooper's. This is when we all come down from our trips and talk. On the veranda of Cooper's, right at the Atlantic Ocean. And we will watch the sunrise in silence, knowing all too well that we smell of sweat, smoke and booze. I love those mornings. I love the feeling that there are people sharing this together with me……………it does not make me feel so alone. I did not want to come to Miami, I did not like it here, at first, until I got to know some people at school and then, my 'family'. A whole bunch of older brothers, sisters, even a few mothers and a cousin, at least that's what V claims to be. She's more like a sister, though. I love her. I love each of them so much because whenever I'm with them, I finally feel like I belong somewhere, like I'm home. I haven't felt like that in a while before we 'moved' here. Not since Cathy died and life got worse pretty much each passing day. She died over one and a half years ago, doesn't seem like much, but so many things have happened till today. Things have changed. I have changed. For the better, for the worse, who knows? _

Lilly looked down at herself. She was still wearing the black dress with the cut on the left front side, simply because she did not have anything else to put on. Showering seemed like a very good idea to her, the blonde just wanted to get _Verone_ off of her skin, to feel _clean_ again.

She would not tell Brian that this had happened. She would not tell anybody, except, perhaps, Sugar, Will, Lola and Marisa. V and Spike would freak once she heard it and Anthony would be reminded of his childhood, when a female friend of his mother's had raped him. Mouse and Thomas would understand, yet, they would not merely listen, he would want to do something against this, while Lilly just wanted it to be over.

_Don't mention it and pretend that it's never happened to you, _the blonde's strategy. The strategy had worked before and it would serve her this time, too.

A knock on the door made her look up from her stream of conciousness. A guy, Federico, entered, holding some clothes in his hands.

"He wishes you to get dressed and to come down in thirty minutes",he said to her in Spanish, knowing that the girl could understand him, "down the hall and the stairs, the first door to the right." The man did not look at her at all. He merely laid the clothes down on her bed and left again.

_He has looked at me,_ Lilly thought_, but he pretends he hasn't. He pretends that he does not know anything about me having nearly been raped by his boss._ So far, the blonde had already taken a look into the mirror. She could not remember having ever appeared so broken.

_Or perhaps I could, if I wanted to, that is. Am I only pretending that I can't remember? I dunno, _she got up from the couch in front of the window and walked into the bathroom,_ thirty minutes. Let's make it fourty. He could wait yesterday evening, he can wait now, as well. Just a soothing hot shower, burning him away from my skin._

Thirty-five minutes later.

It was 3.05 p.m.. Less than three hours left.

Lilly had showered, had dried her body and her hair, had then braided and plaited it, so that the braid was held with two black elastic pony-o's; one at the beginning of the braid and the other one at the ending to hold the plaited hair in place. She had even brushed her teeth. The dark bags underneath her eyes had vanished and she no longer looked like having cried the entire night. She was wearing the clothes Verone had sent her as well. A light brown, upper back-bearing, neck-holder top, underneath which she could not wear a bra, black low-rider jeans bootcut, the occassional thong and a pair of white four inch high-heels with two thick straps: one over her toes and the over right in front of her ankle. Of course, she was not wearing the thong.

_My own or none,_ the girl thought defensively, although knowing that less clothes meant an easier access for Verone.

Taking a deep breath, Lilly opened her door that was, this time, unlocked……………and a smile began to tug at the corners of her mouth. On the side of the door that was directed to the hall, the key was still in the lock. She quickly grabbed it and put it into one of the front pockets of her trousers, praying that nobody would notice the light dent.

Walking down the stairs, she already heard Verone's voice. It sounded as though he was giving his employees some kind of _prep-talk_ concerning the upcoming evening.

"We are going to leave the house at point 5.55, neither at 5.50, nor at 6 o'clock. Julio, you are going to drive us, I have already given you the directions. Daniel, you are………", he turned around when he heard the sound of Lilly's heels clacking on the floor, "Lilly",he smiled before pointing at one of the five armchairs being place around a little table, "have a seat, will you?"

The girl did as she was told, glancing around the room after having sat down onto the black leather armchair……………..and what she saw made her feel very uncomfortable.

Some yards away from her, Monica was seated on another armchair as well, however, to her left and to her right stood two men, one of them Federico, each of them holding a gun in his hands. There were still five other men in the room, Verone excluded. The jerks, the one Lilly thought of as the driver – Julio and two guys she had already noticed yesterday evening while descending the stairs, so, they were probably security. But her major concern was Monica. Why were there these blokes standing next to her? Why did they have guns in their hands? Was it possible that Verone had found that Monica was an undercover agent? How could this woman, after having played her part successfully over the last year or so, be stupid enough to let him notice anything at a point where the ending of it was so close? Okay, perhaps she was a little hard on Monica, yet, the girl spent an entire year at the compound only to be able to enjoy the lifestyle having been offered to her by Verone and then, eventually, she fucked it all up! Why would anybody do anything like that!? Was Monica supposing Verone would take her with him, nonetheless? Because, if not, the agent was dead. She had simply witnessed too much for her own good.

"As I was saying",Verone started once again, "Daniel, you know what you are to do after we have left. You burn down everything. Anything that might give them an insight to my business or my partners, who are going to take care of you, if they are not pleased with your work. While we're at it, Enrique, Roberto",Lilly's _buddies_ looked up.

_So, you're Enrique and Roberto, huh?How could one not loooove these names?!_ The girl rolled her eyes, nonetheless, still listening to the conversation.

"You will leave the house at quarter to six or 5.50, just to make sure that nobody has followed you partners on their way. You are going to meet them, get the money, put it into their cars and then, come with them to the meeting place. Afterwards, you are going to _take care_ of Mister O'Conner and Mister Pearce."

"What you mean: _they are going to take care of them_!?"Lilly's sudden outburst made everybody regard her rather suspiciously, especially Verone walking towards and then, stopping right in front of her.

"Oh, please, Lilly",the brunette seemed to be chiding her like a little child, "don't play the innocent one. You know exactly what I mean." And he smiled again one of _these_ predatory smiles.

"But you…………..you can't",the girl felt the world aroud her turning, perhaps because of the drugs still not being out of her system, yet, she just kept on talking desperatedly, "they haven't done anything to deserve this! They'll do their job, you get your money, cut! That's it! They're no threat to you!"

"Don't lie to me, girl",Verone bent down to her, one hand on each armrest, "you knew that Monica was an agent of the U.S. Customs. Don't deny it. I found out a couple of months after she had started _working _for me. She was nice to play with. She enjoyed living with me. She wouldn't have minded, if I had killed your brother and his friend, just as long as I would have still been with her. She never noticed anything. Never noticed that, all the time, she was nothing but my personal whore. I know just as well about the deal with the guys. The FBI will clear their records and they will be free men…………..to the costs of _my_ freedom and I like my freedom very much. That is why I have to get rid of them. As for you",he cupped her cheek with his right hand, "you should better worry about your own life than about your brother's one. Or do you think that he would appreciate the sight of your corps? I don't think so, but it is up to you. Their lifes are going to end this very evening, how about yours?"

"Would you………",Lilly bit her lower lip, fearing to say out loud what she was thinking, nevertheless doing it – she owned it to Brian and Roman, "what if I went with you? Would you let them live, then? I'll do anything",she breathed out, exhaustion thick in her voice, "anything, just let them live."

"_Anything_?" The man held a certain gleam in his eyes while Lilly knew why he was emphasizing 'anything' the way he did. It sent a shiver of disgust down her spine and the urge to vormit right onto him returned.

"I swear",the blonde responded, tears dwelling up in her eyes, yet, she fought them back, raising her chin towards Verone as the man pressed his lips onto hers. Although feeling how sick the action was actually making her, Lilly opened her mouth to give his tongue free access which he immediately used. He ran his tongue over the roof of her mouth and was about to thrust against hers when the girl closed her lips around his tongue to suck on it. He did not deepen the kiss, though. They broke apart and he carressed her cheek again.

"Catch some sleep before we leave. You won't get any this night",he turned around to face Monica and the men standing by her sides. The older woman did not seem to be very _content_ with this development.

_Perhaps, _so Verone guessed_, she still imagined that I would keep her around for entertainment. How pathetic!_

"Federico",he addressed one of the men, "bring Lilly back into her room and later on something to eat. I will get her myself when we're leaving. And, Ernesto", the other man looked up, "be so kind to lock Agent Fuentes up until we depart. Enrique, Roberto, I changed my mind about Mister Pearce and Mister O'Conner. They will no longer be a threat to us once we have left the United States, so you don't have to kill them."

"Thank you",Lilly whispered while being walked past him by Federico.

"You have no idea",he answered.

Federico watched how Lilly entered her room and closed the door behind her back, obviously not even trying to lock it.

The girl did not mind. She took off the heels, went into the bathroom, tipped up the toilet seat and fought her right middle finger as far as possible down her throat until she could finally throw up.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Brian was sitting on his bed, leafing through his album.

When he had come home from the work at Tej's Garage to take a shower and to change his clothes, he had, at least at first, not noticed how quiet it actually was without his baby sister. It had, somehow, made him feel uncomfortable, simply because the apartment was not supposed to be that silent.

It was not like Lilly to turn up the stereo to its highest volume – he usually was the one doing so due to Lilly preferring to listen to the _way too_ little portable radio/CD/cassette player – nonetheless, there was always some sound caused by the other one. If she read, he would hear her turning the pages. If he heard music, she would hear it, too. If she did some sketches, he would hear the crayons, pencils, markers, whatever, scratching on the paper. If he played 'Need for Speed Underground', she would hear him either cursing or cheering, or perhaps doing both.

There was always some kind of sound traiting the other one's activity, always. That was just the way things were supposed to be………………….but they were not, not this time. The apartment felt empty without his baby, he felt alone. Brian was used to living with Lilly, neither did he want nor did he like it any different.

By now, he had put a CD into the player and was, rather less than more, listening to it. An album by Metallica – Kill'Em All.

He was sitting cross-legged, ellbows resting on his knees, his back bent slightly forwards to have a better look at the album lying in front of him.

It was his album. An album he had once started creating. It was about Lilly.

Being the older responsible brother, he had begun collecting pictures and other things he connected to his younger sibling.

The first page consisted of a copy of her birth certificate. Birth Name: Lilliana O'Conner. Date of Birth: 02/26/1987. Birthplace: Saint Gabriel Hospital, Barstow, California. And so on.

The next pages consisted of pictures. Lilly right after her birth. Lilly several months old. Lilly playing with her favourite toy: a little white bear having been given to her by Brian and, of course, Lilly playing with Brian's auto cards………….well, she was actually chewing on them, nevertheless, her first word had been _Dodge_, therefore, Brian still thought they had had a positive influence on her.

He turned the page over. More photos showing his baby as she had grown up to a toddler…………….and she had been the cutest toddler ever. Long blonde baby curls, big blue eyes and the most charming smile.

There was a little plastic bag glued into the album as well, containing the first tooth his sister had lost at the age of eight.

After this, there were not many photos until Lilly had been eleven. They had not seen each other that often when the girl had had to live with foster parents.

At the age of twelve, Brian had started teaching Lilly how to surf and his baby sister had been a natural! A great center of balance and a great sense for the correct timing. She had even won some contests back then. Of course, he had bought each paper with an article about her contests in it and put them into the album as well as the articles about the volleyball team she had been in back then.

When Cathy had died, everything had stopped. Neither had his baby continued the surfing nor the volleyball. She still refused doing it whenever they were at the beach, but Brian would never force her to do it, it was her decision and he respected it.

Then, there were some new pictures he had added just a couple of weeks ago. Tej had taken them at the garage with his latest digital camera.

Brian had one special favourite amongst them. He knew exactly how much his sister hated photos.

_I just don't like having to smile when I don't feel like it,_ that was pretty much her attitude towards taking pictures. Nonetheless, Tej had managed to get her in front of the camera several times, when feeling unwatched and Brian had to admit, he really preferred these to the ones where Lilly was all smiles. Not that he did not like seeing his sister smile it was just………………..

_That's what she's really like,_ he thought while regarding his favourite picture.

Lilly was standing next to a car, her hair pulled neatly back in a plaited braid while two thick strands were framing her face. She wore a dark red, belly-bearing tank top and some stone washed low-rider 501's. Her right hand was akimbo and with the other, she was holding with her fingertips a bottle of coke, but she had not raised the arm up, it was hanging down by her left side. Her tan skin was slightly sweaty from the work, she even had some dirty spots on her clothes and skin. She was looking to her left side, into the distance, regarding something that could not be seen on the photo. She looked concentrated, completely focused on whatever was happening. And when Lilly was focused on something, she would get that certain expression on her face which would make her irresistible to everybody.

_She's beautiful,_ Brian thought_, perfect ten. Soft round curves and long lean lines. Endless slender and muscular legs, a butt like a ripe apple, completely flat stomach with hard abs literally melting into her stomach, not standing out at all. Slightly visible hip bones, especially visible when she moves. Wide hips because she's got no waist. Perfect breasts which seem to attract the majority of men. Slender muscular arms, long slim fingers. Natural French nails – whatever that is supposed to mean. Perfect collarbone and neck. Slim chin, high cheekbones, a straight nose that is somehow a stub nose but somehow not at the same time. Beautiful large blue eyes, perfect trimmed eyebrows. Small flat ears and long blonde hair, baby curls, of course. But none of this matters to me. This shit only matters to guys. To way too many guys. I love her for her enthusiasm, for her will to fight, for her intelligence, for her talent to create a picture so beautiful only by using a pencil and a piece of paper. Even her 'doodles' are unbelievable. She's always there for me and even if she doesn't understand a problem, she's willing to listen. She's diligent, too. Always having high standards about herself. She's the most adult-like 16-year-old I've ever met. Lord knows, I was definitely not like that at her age. Everything I was thinking about were girls, cars and parties………………..and how to get all of it at once. Doesn't seem like I've changed that much since I was 16. Hell, once I've got my baby back, I'll take a catalogue, make her sit down somewhere and then, she'll have to leaf through it until she's found a car she likes. She needs one. Not to race, but to be more independent. I could just as well win one for her the next time I see one that's acceptable, although she will complain about it. It's too expensive, too dangerous for me to lose my own car. Who does she think I am? I am King of the Streets, I don't do losing. We'll do this. I'll get her back, whatever it takes._

Brian shut the album and put it back into the drawer of his wardrobe where it belonged. He then looked at his watch.

4.23 p.m..

One hour left before he would meet Roman at Tej's for one last discussion, afterwards, they would roll.


	19. Either Or

Either…………..Or................

_What the hell was I thinking?_Lilly was sitting on the couch in front of the opened window, inhaling deeply the smoke of the cigarette in her left hand. _I did not think at all or maybe so much that I couldn't get one damn idea in that moment. I promised him to go with him, I practically offered myself to him! Why the fuck was I so stupid?! And he's already planning on fucking me the entire night! What great a development! Brian would be so pissed, if he knew of this. No sodding explanation I might come up with would be able to bring him back down. He would be disappointed in me, but I prefer him disappointed than dead. Well, it's not like I'm ever gonna tell him. It's not that important. The goal's what counts and I'm so going to get what I've put into my head. Brian's right, I'm stubborn…………just like he is. Why am I like that? Why do I always get my ass kicked because of others? Why am I always doing anything to help people?_She shrugged. _Cause I'm a nice person, I guess. Helping others makes me focus on something, something else than my own life that's nothing but a damn soap-opera. The mother leaves, the father is an alcoholic and goes to jail when he beats the living shit out of his daughter, the daughter comes to foster parents, the older brother has always been the good-looking popular sunnyboy who now becomes a cop. Then, the daughter comes into his custody, they live through some shit together, the girl's best friend dies a tragical death, the brother's long-term girlfriend breaks up with him after he has cheated on her with some stripper while being drunk. The girl gets bulimia, she has to go into a clinic, the brother gets offered a job as an undercover agent which he can't bring to an end because they make friends with the guy robbing trucks. They come to Miami to hide from the police…………………..I should get a fucking academy award or something. Did anybody actually ever ask me, if I wanted to have this role? I don't think so. Why am I always getting myself into such situations, hm? Cause you are a very stupid person, Lilly. I only have to imagine Brian's face, if he should ever find out about me smoking, going to the clubs, dancing there, dancing 'dirrty' with my friends. 'Lilliana O'Conner' he'll yell at the top of his lunges 'get your ass over here, right now!' Whenever he's really pissed at me, he's calling me by my full surname. Well, I do the same with him. Whenever I'm mad at him or want to make him understand that I'm serious about something, I'll call him 'Brian', not just 'bro' and when he's sad or pouty – this is so ridiculous, he's almost 26 years old and he still pouts like a little child. Although, I guess the brain of a 26-year-old man is not that much different from a child's one, just take a look at the guys hanging out at Tej's. Anyways, then, I'll call him 'baby', simply because I know that he needs a mom to be there for him and to cheer him up a little. Sometimes, I really get the impression that he is in my custody and not the other way around. At home, we've got a perfectly organised plan of who's doing what. I do the laundry because neither of us wants Brian to come too close to my underwear. That way, I can easily wash my club outfits without him noticing. He has to clean the bathroom, except for the little litter box standing right next to the toilet. I always throw my tampons in there, so he doesn't have to take care of that. Another reason why he has to clean the toilet is quite simple: he doesn't sit down. I just know that he doesn't because, sometimes, his aim is not the best…………………and that's pretty much digusting. Each of us is responsible for his own room, that's only fair. We take turns at doing the dishes, yet, we're usually doing it together. Once a week, we've got our big 'cleaning day'. Brian does the bathroom, I do the kitchen, the living-room is team work. I hope the apartment is not totally wrecked when I come back, although Brian is actually rather clean for a guy, but with Rome around…………….well, it didn't seem like Rome was willing to spend more time with Brian than necessary, still……………..I guess he'll eventually realize that it wasn't Brian's fault when he got caught. One should just not own eight hot cars, that's a no-no. I can already foresee that, after the whole shit is over, he'll want a second car. If he is to keep the Eclipse, because, if he isn't, he'll have to get two new cars. That's Roman Pearce, big playa, but nontheless adorable. Shit, when Brian can't keep the Evo he'll have to get a new car, as well, and then, he'll talk me into getting one, too._

_I shouldna think about such stuff right now, I got other things to worry about, the garage down there, for example. There are no opened windows through which I could possibly throw the bottles. The gates are also closed. So, how to get inside?The roof is not very helpful, either. No holes or anything in it. Shit! Maybe I should just aim for the gates and do some praying that the fire will spread the way I want it to. The gates are made out of wood and possibly varnished, so that they would burn, however……………_Lilly took one last drag from her cigarette before pushing the still gleaming end onto the narrow outer window sill. She then leant her head back and opened her mouth to blow out two rings of smoke. First a big one and then, a smaller one which she breathed out faster so that it went through the middle of the larger ring. She smiled. _That has to be a good sign. How to keep the fire alive? How, how, how…………………yeah,_ a wide grin settled on the girl's lips. She had an idea.

Lilly got up from the couch and walked into the bathroom while casting another look at the clock.

5.19 p.m.. 36 minutes left.

Within the bathroom, the girl went directly to the bath tub, around which she found what she had planned on using: scented bath oils. Several bottles of scented bath oils. A big one filled with yellow liquid, three medium ones filled with green and blue liquid and two little ones filled with red and pink liquid. Lilly knew that it was not _real_ oil, but it was everything she had. Taking the bottles underneath her arms to carry them more easily, the girl returned onto the couch in the main room and looked out of window.

_Nobody seems to be there. They're all busy with their own preparations, just like I've been some time ago, _she thought while putting down the bottles in front of her, except for the little ones, _let's pray that nobody's down there,_ and she threw the one containing the red liquid out of the window down onto the paved ground right in front of the gates. The sound of cracking glass could be heard.

"Yes",Lilly whispered and waited for some minutes to see whether or not anybody would be coming to check on the sound. Nobody came, therefore, she took the second little bottle and repeated the action. Again, the glass landed and broke right in front of the gates. Again, nobody came to look for the sound.

Now, Lilly picked up one of the medium sized bottles, aimed slowly and threw. This time, the crash was a little louder than the two other ones before, however, there was still nobody who came to check.

_Well, lucky me,_ the girl shrugged, looked out of the window and threw another medium sized bottle. Crash!

_Brian was always proud of my good aim, _she smiled and reapeated the same action for the fith time. A look out of the window, another bottle flew out of the window and hit the ground in front of the garage.

_The last one, hope they won't notice. This one's kinda bigger than the others, so it'll be louder when it comes down. I don't know if it'll even get that far, kinda heavy it is, oh well, who doesn't try has already lost, _Lilly shook her head no,_ I should stop reading what's written on the back of Brian's cereal packagings._

Lifting the bottle up with her right hand, Lilly held it behind her back and then, she used whatever energy she was able to gather in her right arm before throwing the bottle. It hit the gate behind which the Aston Martin was standing with a loud cracking noise.

The girl sat on the couch in silence, praying not to hear the sound of approaching footsteps. Several minutes passed. Outside, there was just the wind that made the leaves rustle, some birds singing and nothing but silence. Lilly grinned and felt like doing a happy dance, yet, she had other worries. Another look at the clock.

5.31 p.m.. 24 minutes left.

Lilly let her eyes wander over the interior of the room once again. She had planned everything. She knew exactly what to do. Everything she would need to carry out her plan was in place.

Lilly became nervous.

She worried especially about Monica. Would the agent manage to free herself once they had started? What was Lilly supposed to do, if they would not meet in front of the main entrance? Simply wait? The blonde did not know where the older woman's room was, just somewhere downstairs, that was it.

_Don't think about this, right now, act on instinct, like you do when you're driving,_ she told herself and considered it a good idea. For now, Verone was more important to Lilly than Monica, therefore, Lilly left the couch and sat down on the bed, her back resting against the head board and some pillows, while with her left hand, she was reaching for some of the fruit Federico had brought her in earlier.

Slices of honey melons, oranges, strawberries, cherries, bananas, grapefruits, apples, pears……….and a little bowl filled with whipped cream.

Picking up a slice of honey melon, she dipped it into the whipped cream and put it into her mouth, shutting her eyes and sucking delightfully on it. She might as well enjoy her last meal in peace.

She did the same with a slice of orange and a piece of the delicious lookig dark red apple.

_I could die within the next thirty minutes, so why ain't I scared? Am I scared of dying? No, well, not now, but I don't think this'll change anytime soon. Death finally stops when it comes. The entire life is nothing but death cos each day, some part of you dies, if you want it or not. I wonder why there's still so much left of me, then. Well, I tried to kill myself before, right after Cathy died. I couldn't do it. I didn't want to be a coward. I don't run away. Running away doesn't solve one's problems. It only makes them become worse. Have a problem, solve the problem before another one emerges and you have two problems. Running away is no good, hiding is no better. That's why I dance. Dancing frees my mind and, therefore, it clears my head. Afterwards, I always know what to do. I can just let myself fall into the rhythm becoming my heartbeat. Now that I think about it, it's unlike racing. Racing frees me for a short amount of time, then, everything's back to what it was like before. I start and there are people, I cross the finish line and there are the same people again. I find myself in a car that does not even belong to me, my head is still clouded with the thoughts I had before the race started. Yet, I'm doing it again and again, as though being addicted. Racing's like a drug, dancing isn't. Dancing helps while racing makes me believe I am free although I ain't. Why am I even racing? That's an easy one. I'm racing because of Brian. I just want him to be proud of me and he doesn't know that I dance, so, I have to race. I don't think he would be proud of me, if he knew I preferred doing 'such girly shit'. Or maybe he would still be proud, just less than he's now. He loves showing me off; my skills, my knowledge about bands and cars and sports……………stuff guys usually are interested in. It's not that I don't like knowing such things it's just………………ever since I was little, I had the impression that I had to be more like a boy to get his respect. He's always making jokes about dancers, especially ballerinas – something I'd like to hurt him for when it's becoming too much. He can't even imagine how much time and energy it costs to perform merely the basic positions in a manner considered 'acceptable', not to mention how much more you have to put into it to become 'perfect'. There can only be one prima ballerina in each show, only one. Within a team or a band, people are treated equally and complete one another, but the prima ballerina has to be better than everybody else. She's alone, therefore, when she makes a mistake everybody is going to see that it was nobody's but her fault. I'll never be a prima ballerina, no matter how hard I try. It's because of my body. I'm simply too fat. Too much ass, too much hips, too much breasts…………..and I'm too tall. I would never find a partner for the pas de deux. Still, dancing frees, racing makes me an addict. It's so strange that………….._

A knock on the door made Lilly look up. _Shit! How late's it?!_

The clock showed that it was 5.43 p.m..

Twelve minutes left.

"Lilly?"Carter Verone entered the room, a satisfied smile on his face when he saw the blonde sucking on another slice of honey melon. "Do they taste good?"

"Yes, thank you",she responded with a slight smile while chewing on the piece of fruit in her mouth.

"May I have one as well?"He said, sitting down next to her one the bed.

"I don't mind",the girl shrugged, eying the man how he took a strawberry, covered its tip with whipped cream and then, ate it.

"No drugs, this time",he told her, swallowing down the bite he had just taken.

"That's good. I want it to happen because _I _want it to happen and not some drug making me."

"I apologize. I just wanted to make it easier for you to accept what was going on", the brunette licked his moist lips before picking up another strawberry.

"No. You just knew that I wouldn't give in",Lilly answered without hesitating and gained a laugh.

"But now, you do",the man reminded her.

"Yeah, because living with a good-looking millionar seems to be better than dying at the age of sixteen."

"Good-looking?"Verone raised an appreciating eyebrow.

"Well, there are definitely ones looking worse than you do",Lilly smiled, remembering the rich guys coming to the clubs with their air-heads to show off. Most of them would not be let in. They did not meet the expectations.

"Come here",he put the two bowles between them aside and pressed the girl close to his body, kissing her. Their tongues collided and played for some time, hands were roaming over clothes and slight moans were escaping their throats. Lilly had wanted this to happen………………it was part of her plan.

"A very wise decision of you",Verone said while kissing her forehead, "we still got ten minutes let before we leave", and then, he opened the zipper of his pants while looking the girl straight into the eye, "make me enjoy them."

Lilly kissed him again, turning him around, so that he was lying flat on his back and she sitting on top of him. She let one of her hands wander through his short hair, with the other she was opening the buttons of his gray silk shirt. He moaned when she started to play with one of his nipples and allowed her to guide his arms away from her body above his head. They were now lying stretched out……………..the moment Lilly had waited for. The girl let her hands reach out to touch his and she gently massaged both of his wrists with the fingers of her left hand while her right hand was slowly picking up the pillow underneath which she had hidden the handcuffs from the nightstand some time earlier.

"Raise your hips",she told Verone and put the pillow under his butt as he did so.

"I can't wait to be inside of you",he said, thrusting upwards to remember her of her actual task.

"Neither can I",Lilly whispered and moaned loudly when she bent down to kiss him again. That way, he did not hear the sound of the handcuffs clacking when she shut them around his wrists. Fortunately, the head board of the bed consisted of several wooden colums, so that she had just laid the handcuffs around one of them. Verone was trapped and tried to yell the moment he realized what she had done to him, yet, their mouths still being pressed together prevented any screams to become too loud.

In the meantime, the blonde had reached out for a pair of socks and some duct tape she had found in the bathroom. Now, she let go of Verone and shoved the socks quickly into his mouth before putting the duct tape over it, therefore, the man could not spit the socks out and any screams for help he was performing right now would be nothing but muffled breaths.

"You're inside insanity now",Lilly said, running a hand over his face and getting up to carry out her plan. She opened the wardrobe and took out six of the eighteen bottles within it, which she had prepared two hours ago. The girl had opened each of the bottles and put some toilet paper into the necks of the bottles. On the couch in front of the opened window was her bag, her lighter lying next to it.

Verone was still trying to yell at the top of his lungs, but it was of no use.

Lilly took the lighter into her left hand, the bottle into her right, light up the toilet paper that was, by now, almost competely soaked full with alcohol, thus, the blonde would have to throw the bottle rather fast, if she did not want it to explode into her face. She threw it out of the window and _boom_! It crashed against the wooden gates in a cloud of fire and smoke. The puddles of scented oils began to burn.

Another bottle, and another, and another. The fire spreat. Lilly had been right: the gates were indeed varnished, they were on fire. Another bottle. _Boom_!.

_When do I finally get the damn gas to explode!?_The blonde wondered in anger because she already heard the security running towards the garage.

Suddenly, something behind one of the gates exploded, blowing the gate up as well: the Aston Martin Vanquish.

_Great,_ Lilly thought,_ now, I can at least throw something into the garage!_

But she did not have to. It was just a couple of seconds later that two other explosions followed the first one. The Ferrari and the gas colum. That was Lilly's sign. She had to leave, fast, before the security would come and look for her.

Grabbing her bag and pulling it over her head, she blew a kiss into Verone's direction who was still fighting against the handcuffs.

Lilly left the room barefeet, having known she would be slower on heels and louder, too, ran down and the stairs, taking three at once so that she almost stumbled, then, she entered the room with the main entrance. Nobody was in there and the door opened. She ran, she ran like hell, she just wanted to get out of here.

On the outside, everybody seemed to be preoccupied with the burning garage and Lilly saw Monica running onto the way leading up to the house. She smiled at the girl and waved her over as though wanting to say 'hurry up!'.

The blonde wasted no time and ran, although the paved ground hurt underneath her bare feet.

Suddenly, she heard a man yelling something in Spanish.

"Las mujeres!" – _The women!_

Monica ran towards the drive, her heart pounding in her chest so hard, it could have broken through her ribs.

Then, there was the sound of shooting.

"I got the keys",the woman gasped when Lilly was by her side, "it's the Porsche."

"Okay, we'll do this",the girl answered, although not being convinced by her own words.

It happened right in front of the gate leading to the drive where the cars were standing.

"Ahhh!"Lilly screamed. A bullet had grazed her left hand, nonetheless, she kept on running, knowing that she could just as well drive with one hand grazed.

_At least it's not the one I have to shift with,_ she tried to think positive, something that scared her even more than the fact that she had been hit.

Monica had already unlocked the car and got inside on the passenger's side while Lilly arrived a little later. The moment of realization had cost her a couple of seconds.

"You okay? You want me to drive?"Monica breathed out in shock when seeing the girl's hand.

"Yes and too late for that",the blonde started the engine and stepped onto the gas. Under ordinary circumstances, the sound of a growling Porsche engine would have given her the heebie-jeebiesm but not this time. This time, she and Monica would die, if she made just one single mistake.

Some of the security men had already arrived at the drive and took their aim. Lilly had no other choice than driving right through them. She quickly turned the steering wheel to the left and to the right, driving zig-zags to make it harder for them to hit the car. One of them pulled the trigger……………..and hit the windshield. Fortunately, it merely cracked and the bullet did not enter the car. At that point, Lilly was already so close to the men that they realized that she would not stop and they jumped aside.

In the meantime, Monica had fastened her seatbelt, eying Lilly. The girl was completely focused on what she was doing, she acted on pure instinct, as though she would have never done anything else than driving.

_Although,_ the woman thuoght, _Brian being the older brother……….._

"Where to?"The blonde asked.

"Hm?"

"To where shall I drive? You're the one responsible for the directions, here",she said, never taking her eyes off the road, the cracked windshield blocking her view a little.

"An airstrip in the Keys. Off Nallwood Avenue."

"An airstrip? I thought he was planning on going by boat",Lilly frowned.

"Why?"The idea that she might have given Brian and Roman the wrong directions made Monica feel uncomfortable.

"Yesterday evening, we talked and he asked me, if I had ever been on a boat before. Then, later, he said he had a yacht and that I'd get to see it soon, so, ya know?"She shrugged.

"Oh shit!"Monica cursed. Of course, Carter had changed the meeting place. If he had know that she was an undercover agent, he would have never given her the correct directions. "Doesn't matter. I think I know where the yacht is. It's basically the same way, just another drive."

"You got any weapons with you?"The blonde suddenly asked.

"No, they've taken them from me. Why?"

"Cos' some have problems with letting go."

Monica turned around on her seat and saw two cars, the Ferrari and the Lotus, following them.

"Shit", she had not thought of that posibility before, "now what?!"

"Freeway",Lilly answered casually while turning the steering wheel to the right to drive onto the ramp.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"We already sent a few men after them, Sir",a man in his mid-thirties told an outraged Carter Verone.

"_So what?! _You think that this'll be of any use?! This is O'Conner's sister! That girl knows how to drive!"The brunette threw a vase onto the floor, hating the mere thought of having been left in the most embarrassing situation!

"What now, Sir?"The security asked rather unsure, not wanting to become the aim of his employer's wrath.

"_What now?! What now?! Now,_ we'll leave. It's already six o'clock! We'll just have to do it without the women!"He looked at the other man. "_What you still standing there?! Get me my helicopter!_"

Carter Verone had never lost anything to a woman before and now this! A sixteen year old girl had managed to _chain him to a bed_!

_I underestimated her. Beautiful, intelligent, dangerous. She would have completed me so well. Who cares? Eventually, she will come back to me. To get revenge for her murdered brother._

A predatory smile made Carter Verone part his lips.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Where the hell did you learn to drive like that?!"Monica was literally clutching to her armrest and her seat after the girl sitting on the driver's seat had just overtaken five cars in a row on two different lanes.

"Some here, some there. I'm holding the record in obstacles",the girl shifted into another gear, suppressing the urge to wince because of her left hand. The skin burnt like fire. She was driving at 95 mph.

"In what?"

"Obstacles. Some type of race. You have to drive a certain route that has, like, all sorts of obstacles on it. Trash cans, other cars, oil, ramps. Nobody knows the route, only the ones who helped constructing it. And I'm holding the record. Three and a half miles, 58.47 seconds. First one under a minute. I really hit the gas that night without adding so much than a scratch to Brian's car",Lilly smiled at the memory despite the pain her hand caused.

"Brian's car?"The woman frowned. The girl was sixteen. Her brother and probably most of her friends raced. She did not have her own car, then?

"Yeah, 2001 Nissan Skyline GTR. Brian said it was wrecked when he got caught. You ain't gonna let him",she did a hard turn to the left to overtake another car having just been about to change its lane, "keep the Evo, or what?"

Monica just stared at the teenager. How could anybody be _that_ casual while doing such deadly actions?!

"I……..I don't know",she finally answered.

"I hope so. The Evo's a good one. Matches Brian, looks like a taxi, though. I never like any shades of yellow that much. Course, we'll have to yank the GPS out, if you give it to him, but that'll only last, like, a week or so. Built practically everything out, check it through and put it back together. You okay?"The blonde cast a quick look at the woman sitting next to her. She seemed to be nervous.

"Yeaaaaaaaaaah",Monica screamed out when Lilly did another sharp turn to the right and back to the left.

"Relax",the girl grinned, shaking her head slightly no before narrowing her eyes.

"I don't like that look on your face",the brunette stated.

"Truck drivers",was the response.

Monica tried to get a view on the scenary in front of them through the cracked windshield. Behind them, the two cars were still following them as best as they could, yet, they had a rather hard time keeping up with the girl's way of handling a car. In front of them, there were two trucks driving side by side, appearantly they were driving so close to each other on purpose.

"Always thinking they're some kinda cops, trying to stop us. Well",she shifted into another gear, "I'll show'em."

"What do you want to do?"Monica swallowed.

"You'll see. Just hold onto something." Lilly stepped onto the gas pedal, letting the engine of the Porsche rev. She had done these maneuvers before……………….not that Brian knew. First, she opened her window, second, zig-zags, fast but steady zig-zags until she was almost touching the tail lights of the trucks. Then, she stepped once again onto the gas, doing a sharp turn to the right…………………..and they were driving on two wheels, right through the narrow alley between the trucks. As she passed the drivers' cockpits, she held her hand out of the opened window, middle and ring finger raised.

"Please, don't tell Brian that I did this, okay? He's always so overprotective",she said the moment the car was driving on four wheels again.

"Mhm",the other woman piped, her heart pounding like crazy.

Lilly laughed. Monica was definitely not the right girl for Brian. He would have whooped, if he had sat on the passenger's seat. Nevertheless, some seconds later, she winced. Her left hand was killing her.

"At least, we've gotten rid of the Lotus",she whispered. The driver of the Lotus had not succeeded in dealing with the truck drivers. The Ferrari had taken the long way around them, therefore, there now was some space between it and the Porsche.

"Oh, fuck!"Lilly exclaimed. There was a traffic sign saying 'construction zone – 2.5 miles'. "We have to get the next drive."

_But I'll have to wait till we're directly in front of the drive, then, I'll have to take it. Make them believe I would just drive ahead. Might work. We're never gonna make it in time to the meeting place, no matter how fast I drive._ She hit the wheel in fury, regretting it immediately because of having used her left hand to do so.

"The guys are supposed to be driving on the freeway after the construction zone",Monica thought out loud. She looked at her watch. 6:07. Carter was possibly already at the meeting place, awaiting the guys. He would kill them.

"I know the drive we have to take",Lilly thought out loud, "it leads straight into an industry district. May turn out as a plus for us. Many heavy machines down there, yet, more trucks. Don't worry, though, I'll manage."

"Of course, you'll manage. You're insane."

"So I've been told", the girl said, shifting gear due to seeing the drive they would have to take.

_Two third. Half a mile. Quarter. Deep breath. Now!_ She changed onto the left lane to irritate the driver of the Ferrari before turning the steering wheel with full force to the right. The Porsche entered the drive merely half a foot away from the iron barriers being raised around it.

Unfortunately, the Ferrari also reached the drive in time, however, it hit the iron barriers hard on the left side.

_This'll cost them some time. Wheels and tires might have been damaged a little. Let's hope so._

Lilly hissed slightly and glanced at her hand. It was covered in blood having run down her forearm and slowly drying. The wound had not yet stopped bleeding because of the constant motions when turning the steering wheel around. It burnt so much but the girl bit her lower lip.

_Don't worry, bro. I'm coming. Just hold on. I'm on my way._

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Brian was standing several yards away from Verone. So far, not everything had worked out the way it had been supposed to. The police had been on them every since they had loaded the bags with the money. Although having gotten rid of them due to their plan – _Hell, that really was a show. We've shown them what racers are able to perform_ – Brian's built-in bottle of nitrous underneath the passenger's seat had not worked. Roman's had, therefore, he had driven to the airstrip, the wrong meeting place. Now, the blonde was alone with Verone holding a gun in his hand………..like everybody else did, except for the young man.

_Well,_ he thought,_ at least Rome knows where to come looking for me. If he comes……….he will. But in time? Focus now. Focus on why you're here. Where the fuck has he brought my baby to? Is she already on his boat? I fulfilled my part of the deal, it's his turn, now._

"Where's the rest?"Verone asked, pointing his gun at the bags on the ground in front of him.

"In the other car",the blonde responded, still wondering when the brunette would show him his younger sister.

"Another car",the man frowned, "where's the other car?"

"On its way."_If there's so much than a scratch on her, I'll make you pay._

"On its way?"An eyebrow raised in scepsis underlined Verone's question.

"Yeah."

"So you know nothing about the agents that stormed my jet?"

Brian shook his head slightly no, hoping that his eyes would not trait the thoughts dwelling up inside of him. _Shit! He knows! What if he knows about Rome and me, too?! If he does…………..what the hell has he done to my baby!?_

"The funny thing is",the brunette smiled to himself, "I only told one person about the airtstrip. Monica, Agent Fuentes, never noticed me knowing. She just continued enjoying the life style I offered to her. Well, that was in the past. I'm looking forward to a new life and now, with Fuentes gone, there's a free place by my side. I asked your sister about it……."

"Where the hell is she?!"Brian's sudden outburst made Enrique, the guy having accompaigned Brian on the way, point his gun to the other man's head.

"She's safe. Don't worry, O'Conner. She's already on the boat, waiting for us to depart. You see",he shrugged, "the life I am able to give her appeared more attracting to her than the poor existance together with you."

"_She'd never choose you over me_!"The young man yelled, not believing a word.

"Of course, she would. She did. What can you provide her with, hm? Nothing. As far as I have been told, she works, while you do nothing but racing. She does not even get an allowance. She has no car, no computer, no stereo, no TV, she even has to pay for her own clothes and she has to finance her hobbies, as well",Carter Verone chuckled, content with the fact the drugs had made the girl talk to him, "you just don't deserve her, O'Conner. You had your chance. Sixteen years and you wasted them."

"I want her to tell me that",Brian narrowed his eyes, fury burning inside his veins. How dared Verone judging his skills as an older brother?! Lilly had never complained, she had always accepted their living conditions.

_But what if she has merely bitten her tongue for all of these years? What if she hates the way your treating her? What if she hates it here in Miami and is just not saying anything?_ His traitorous mind asked.

"You are not in the position to make any demands",he then addressed the bodyguard and Enrique, "hide the cars and get rid of him."With that last comment, he turned around and walked to his yacht.

Thrusting his gun against Brian's lower jaw, Enrique repeated his employer's order. "Back in the car."

Getting onto the driver's seat of the Yenko, the blonde still had to support the feeling of a gun being held close to his head by Enrique sitting on the passenger's seat.

He started the engine, drove a short route while another car was following them. The bodyguard was the driver. He parked right behind them as they stopped.

"End of the road",Enrique stated with his strong Spanish accent, bringing the gun near Brian's right temple, "you know. I like you. But I still got to kill you. It's my job."

"Can I ask you one last question, then?" The blonde just had to know.

"If you have to."

"Is she dead? Did he kill my sister?"The man swallowed. The mere thought let his eyes fill up with tears, yet, he fought them back.

"Mister Verone gets what Mister Verone wants."

He was about to load the gun, when Brian used the one last chance he had left: he pressed the button activating the explosion underneath the passenger's seat. It had not worked before, but it was his last straw.

Noticing the clicking sound, the other man became angry. "What's that?!" He now loaded his gun while Brian pushed the button with his thumb two more times. The blonde felt the cold iron end of the gun being put to his right temple and closed his eyes.

_It would not be worth it, anyway. Not without my baby. _

"It's Barstow, baby!"The response came through the walkie-talkie. It was Roman! "And it's about to get ugly!" They heard a car approaching them.

Roman drove the 1970 Dodge Challenger straight into the black car parking behind the Yenko.

Brian used the moment of distraction to disarm Enrique. Several shots were fired through the windshield.

"Let's go",Verone told his employee when hearing the shots. He presumed Brian O'Conner would no longer cause any problems.

In the meantime, Brian was kicking Enrique lying on the ground in front of the Yenko for one last time.

"C'mon, man",Roman said and both of them ran to the bank to see Verone's boat cruising away, therefore, they returned to the Yenko, Brian started the engine, yet, before driving away, they got rid of the broken widshield by kicking it out of its iron frame.

"I thought you was dead, man",the black man breathed out once they had begun driving.

"Me, too. Thanks for saving my ass, bro."

"What you doing, man?!"Roman did not understand why his friend kept on drving by the riverside.

"Verone said Monica was gone, so he had to replace her. I don't want him to kill my baby once a helicopter or a Customs boat shows up",the blonde wished that his words were true. Enrique's statement had been vague. She might still be alive and waiting for him to rescue her. She just had to be alive!

"Boat",a look at the yacht, "car", a look at the shifter knob, "boat", _Fuck!_, "you better be praying kitten's gonna forgive you what I think you're gonna do!"

"You got my back?"

"Not when she's pissed off, otherwise yeah."

"All right, now, put on your seat belt",Brian reached for his seat belt and fastened it. _Safety first!_

A grin crossed Roman's handsome face. "You'll show him some real _Dukes of Hazzard_ shit."

"We're gonna do this big! Hold one, Rome! Hold on!"

"Oh, Brian, you're crazy, man",Roman's eyes widened as he saw the old wooden ramp the other man planned on using to get onto the boat, "what the hell are you doing?!"

The both of them began to scream once the car had left the ramp and flew through the air……………….right onto the stern of the yacht.

Verone, having seen the car coming, had gone under deck to avoid getting buried.

The men were groaning and holding the parts of their bodies being most filled with pain. Roman hissed through his teeth.

"I think I broke my arm, man."

Brian was pressing his left hand against the spot on his forehead where he had hit the steering wheel, also wincing.

Suddenly, they heard the sound of a gun cocking.

"Get the gun",Roman whispered while giving it to Brian who immediately took aim at Verone having pointed a rifle at them. The blonde shot first, straight into the left side of Verone's chest. The brunette fell to the floor, clenching his jaw in pain.

Roman and Brian were just getting out of the wrecked Yenko, when there was the noise of several helicopters, boats and cars coming closer. The U.S. Customs and the police.

"_Where the hell is she?!_"The blonde yelled with whatever strength he had left.

Despite the pain, Carter Verone just gave him his trademark smile. "I have honestly no idea."

There were not many things that could make Brian O'Conner beat the shit out of a man lying in pain on the ground, nonetheless, his younger sister's well-being could. He was about to kick Verone into his side to get some more information out of him, however, some members of the U.S. Customs chose exactly that moment to step on the boat, therefore, he was not able to let his fury out.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"You alright?"Monica asked the girl on the driver's seat. The drive leading to Tarpon Point exit was right in front of them. They had already gotten rid of the other car having followed them as well, yet, Lilly's condition seemed to become worse each second that passed. She had lost some blood due to having been grazed by a bullet. The wound had still not closed, so the blood had run over Lilly's forearm and the steering wheel. Regarding the teenager, Monica thought to see tiny pearls of sweat on her forehead and her breathing had gotten faster since they had left the industry district.

"Yeah, I've just neither drunk nor eaten anything spectacular, yet. Was afraid he might put some drugs into it",it was the truth. Lilly had neither drunk nor eaten, although having throwed up. She had simply been too scared of being almost raped again. Another minus was that the drugs were not completely out of her system, yet, and the rush of adrenaline only meant that her blood was pumped faster through her veins, therefore, the last amounts of the drugs still had an effect on her.

"I'll have a medic take care of you once it's over",the brunette smile reassuringly while they were entering the narrow wooden path leading to the little dock-like place.

Lilly did not respond. She knew Monica. This woman would not have minded, if Brian had been killed, as long as she would have been safe with Verone…………….she really seemed to like playig the part of this bastard's personal whore. Lilly had seen the older woman looking at Verone. A woman might deceive thousands of men but not one single woman. Brian had been nothing but a good-looking adventure for the brunette.

The girl's eyes got heavy. She really needed a Cola or a Pepsi, some cool coffeine.

"Seems like we ain't the first ones",Monica said, several police cars having entered her view.

"And there I did not wanna miss the action",the blonde sighed sarcastically, passing the parked cars. Once she had spotted a place for the Porsche to be standing, she stopped the engine, leant back in her seat and took a deep breath of releave.

_It's over._

Monica left the car immediately. "Medic!"She yelled as loud as she could, running over to where two ambulances parked.

Brian's ears twitched the moment he heard Monica screaming for a medic and walked up to the agent. Bilkins and Markham were coming from the other side, too.

"Where've you been?"Markham asked.

"Where's Lilly? She alright?"Brian interrupted him.

"We've been on our way, I'm here and I would be alright, if somebody would fetch me something cold and liquid",a voice coming closer to the group said. Lilly had grabbed her bag and had left the car right after Monica.

"Baby!"Brian grinned, embracing her tightly after having run over to her. He just wanted to be close to her right now, to show her that everything was okay.

"You're here, you're alive, oh God, you're good",he mumbled while kissing her hair and her face, small tears of happiness leaving his eyes, "I'm so sorry, I should have been there, so sorry."

"'s okay, bro",the girl answered, resting her head on top of her older sibling's broad shoulders, "I'm okay. It's not your fault. I shoulda been more careful. Sorry for worrying you."She was also feeling tears streaming over her face, nonetheless, she eyed the actions going on around them.

"Please tell me he didn't hurt you, I can't kill him now that they got him",Brian inhaled deeply the scent of his sister's hair, rubbing his big hands up and down her back in a soothing manner.

"He didn't hurt me. 's all good with me,"suddenly, something caught Lilly's attention, "bro, why's there a '69 Yenko Camaro on this boat?"

"Um, you know, this is a funny story",Brian stammered, "you know…………..the boat had already left the dock and, somehow, I thought you were on it………………and there was this ramp and………."

"You jumped with a car onto a boat?"The girl raised one of her eyebrows while regarding her brother. "_You_ jumped with _a car_ onto _a boat_?"She took a deep breath. "_You_, the guy who doesn't even start the engine until I have fastened my seat belt, _jumped with a car onto a boat?!_ _You, the one always telling me not to take any unnecessary risk, jumped with a damn car onto a fucking boat?!_"

"You know,"Markham chuckled, Bilkins and he were watching the scene in amusement, "I think I like that kid."

"Language, oh dearest sister mine, and I had put on my seat belt",he pressed another kiss against his baby's forehead, looking at her and grinning.

"Oh, shit",Lilly, still angry, suddenly backed away, "I'm getting blood all over your shirt."

"Wha…?"The blonde looked down at himself. On the right side of his dark orange coloured shirt, there were some red marks. He immediately checked his sister for any wounds, noticing that her entire left forearm was covered in the red liquid before yelling at the top of his lunges: "Medic! Get somebody over here, now!"Then, to Lilly, concern all over his face: "You feeling good? Shall I carry you? What happened?"

"No, you don't have to, I'm fine. It looks worse than it actually is. It's just a graze, don't worry",the girl waved him off with her right hand.

"Please come over to one of the stetchers with me",a man had arrived, apparently a medic. Lilly followed him, waving over to where Roman was being patched up by a woman. He blew a kiss into her direction.

"Looking hot!"He commented on the clothing the blonde had received from Verone.

"How did you get here?"Bilkins asked as she walked past him.

"Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe",she smiled slightly.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Roman was sitting next to Brian on some of the wooden boxes which were everywhere around the place. The woman having bandaged the black man's sprained arm was just leaving when Markham came over.

"So, there were three bags total?"The older man questioned. "The free from the boat?"

"So we're good right?"Roman looked up. "Our records clean?"

"Yeah, you held up your end. Your records are clean."

Brian and Roman looked at each other, then, Roman got up, went to the Dodge Challenger he had been driving, opened the trunk and took out three black bags.

"So maybe there were six bags",he said, throwing the items onto the ground in front of Markham, "I guess we can call it even."

"Agent Dunn?"Markham shook hands with Roman and with Brian. "We found some more evidence."

While the young agent with the help of another policeman carried away the three bags, the guys were watching Carter Verone getting his shoulder patched up, returning their gaze.

"Don't drop the soap, big homey!"Roman chuckled while Verone just smiled.

"I hope you know when he gets out, he's going to kill your ass",Brian told his friend.

The black man frowned. "He ain't getting out."

Verone got up from the stretcher he had been sitting on, still smiling. "I'll see you soon",he calle dover to them.

Rome's grin was fading. "You think he's going to get out?"

The blonde rose from the boxes. "He'll be out". And walked over to where Bilkins was talking to Lilly, Roman following him.

"Not for real. You think he's getting out?"

"We took care of your decoys",the man told them while Brian let his arms wander around his sister's waist, kissing the back of her head, "they're free and clear. There's a sedan out on the road for you. Try to bring it back in one piece."

"Thanks a lot, Bilkins",the blonde man shook hands with his former boss, "you're all right. Thanks for looking out."

Monica had also joined their little group. She and Roman exchanged some words. They seemed to trust each other, now. Then, Monica reached out to shake hands with Brian.

"Nice working with you, O'Conner."

"Same here."

The brunette walked away together with Bilkins, the blonde man staring after her until she turned around one last time and shared a smile with him.

"Fucking whore", Lilly commented, freeing herself from her brother's arms to get into the sedan before the guys would start an argument about who was sitting where.

"What was that?"Rome frowned. "Some cat fight, or what? Hey, man, you tell me."

"I dunno",Brian was confused. Did his baby not like Monica? What could have happened between them? 'Fucking whore'. Lilly would never use such words in front of him without having proper reason to do so.

"I might have to stay here in Miami and keep you out of trouble, bruh",Roman concluded while they were following the teenage girl to the car. "You know what I'm talking about."

"You're going to kick it in Miami, bro?"

"Oh, yeah. I love Miami. Miami is off the hook!"

They laughed.

"Open a garage together."

"A garage?"The bald man raised his eyebrows. "How are we gonna do that, bruh?"

Brian stopped his walk, cast an eye over the area around them and saw that nobody was close.

"Pockets ain't empty, cuz."

Roman looked around as well, checking the area. He then lifted up his sleeveless shirt, revealing the money he had put into his pants. "And we ain't hungry no more, right?"Both laughed again, getting into the sedan.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"You really good when I go out with Rome?"Brian regarded his sister curiously as she entered the bathroom, wearing a big white bathrobe.

On the way back to their apartment in the sedan, Lilly had slept the entire time, completely exhausted. He had assumed that, after having taken this nap, she would be up for some action this night, so Roman and he had planned on partying their victory together with Tej and the others. Nevertheless, the girl had not wanted to celebrate now. She claimed she was tired, therefore, she just wanted to go to bed.

"Yes, for the seventh time",Lilly scowled, not understanding why her brother had to ask her again and again about this. "I'm fine, bro, just sleepy. A shower, then, straight to bed."She sat down on the edge of the bath tub, eying Brian standing in front of the mirror above the sink.

"Okay",the man sighed, "I just don't wanna leave you now that I got you back."

"It's over, Brian, they got him. Well, till he's out again, that is, but we're safe, at least for now",she tugged at the tape around her left hand. It was way better now.

"Does it hurt much?"

"Nah, I'll just have to change the tape every two days, doctor said it would heal faster, then."

"So you're really good? Nothing else that's wrong?"

"No, bro, I'm good. I'm fine",the girl cracked a smile at him, "you're free, now."

"Uh-huh",he grinned.

"This will mean so much stress within the next weeks",she took a deep breath.

"Why's that?"Brian sat down next to his baby on the edge of the bath tub.

"Well, we'll have to get everything changed. Nothing we got here in Miami is in your name, we'll have to do something about that, getting it changed. At school, they need to know, too. No longer, Lilliana Masterson, but O'Conner. We also have to get an account or something like that. I want one for the money I'll need for college. Then, there is the matter of insurance. We do need one so bad, although I wonder if they accept guys that jump with cars on boats. And I guess there are some injections you an' me still have to get. I can finally make my driver's license. The fake one Tej has gotten for me is okay, yet, I want a real one. And Rome. The same goes for him as well. He needs pretty much everything, now. We'll have to help him and then…………."

"Wo, wo, wo",Brian chuckled, "when did you have the time to think about all of that stuff?"

"When we drove to Miami",Lilly answered innocently, "when you were asleep and I had to entertain myself somehow."

The blonde man laughed, kissing his sister's temple. "I love you."

"You'll have to go now, if you don't want Rome to starve",she said, looking at Brian's watch. It showed 7:26. The guys wanted to meet at half past seven to eat something before the races would start.

"Oh yeah",he got up, "and it's really……….?"

"_Yes, Brian_",Lilly rolled her eyes, "just have some fun, 'kay?"

"Kay",he smiled at her, "you know that, tomorrow, we have to go to the police station and answer some questions, right?"

"Yeah, I know. Love you."

"Love you, too",he kissed her forehead one last time before leaving the bathroom and the apartment.

Lilly smiled evilly.

_At times, it's way too easy with him._

The girl was not planning on staying the evening at home. She would go to "The Club" and do some Drill. Drill was a special course, a code red course. In "The Club", there was a system to catagorize the dancers. Code yellow were the beginners, code orange the advanced and code red the pros.

Lilly was considered code red, therefore, she was allowed to participate in code red courses, such as Drill. Drill was one of the hardest courses in "The Club". It was a mixture of physical exercises to strengthen the muscles to unknown limits, of capoeira – a brasilian mixture of dancing and fighting – of breakdance, of acrobatics and everything would be packed together into pure Hip Hop.

Drill lastet three and a half hours on Wednesday nights.

The first time Lilly had ever done that course, her entire body had been nothing but pain, even her hair had hurt. By now, she was used to Drill and she even enjoyed the feeling of her muscles burning to the sound of Hip Hop music. It was a great preparation for the battles as well.

At the Phoenix, an underground Hip Hop club where Mouse and she went to regularly, she would always show her best at the battles. It was life. Dancing with other people she did not even knew, yet, sharing this with them, learning some of their moves, showing them some of hers.

She battled not only girls but mainly guys…………………and she would usually win due to her body being very flexible. She added ballet, tango, salsa, cha cha cha, belly dancing, everything she had ever learnt to it, therefore, she was able to perform with a bigger variation than most others.

Lilly had text messaged Mouse earlier to pick her up at eight o'clock, so she would have to hurry now that Brian was finally gone.

She quickly unwrapped her left wrist from the tape, took a five-minute shower, dried herself, used her blow-dryer for her hair and then went to put on the clothes she had already laid down onto her bed.

Dark green low-rider cargo pants with a pocket on each of her butt cheeks and one at each side right above her knee. The pants were so low that they exposed some of the white hot pants she was wearing underneath. White sneaker socks and matching white KSWISS sneakers. The good ones. Lilly would never wear the sneakers she used for dancing as ordinary street shoes. The top was a sleeveless bright orange, ending a good three inches above her belly button. The girl tugged her long hair neatly underneath a white baseball cap with orange outlines, matching the colour of her top. She fixed the cap with several white bobby pins, to make sure that it would not fall off when she did somersaults, flic flacs or head-spins.

Lilly then taped her left wrist with clean white tape and used it to tape her right upper arm as well, making it look like a part of her outfit.

Afterwards, Lilly went one more time into the bathroom to brush her teeth and to put on some make-up. Eyeliner, mascara, bronzing-powder on her cheeks and a lipliner that was just a tint darker than her pearl lipstick.

7:56.

She always spent too much time on drying her hair. It was simply too long, but the blonde did not want to cut it off.

Switching off the lights within the apartment, the girl went into her room, grabbed her bag from the armchair and opened her window. Before climbing out, she switched off the light in her room and locked the door, too.

Outside, on the fire escape, Lilly closed her window just so much that, from downstairs, it would look like it was shut, yet, she would still be able to open it without any problems when coming back later this night.

The blonde went down the stairs and onto the street, where she saw Mouse, sitting in his old and totally busted '92 Mitsubishi Mirage.

She went each Wednesday night to Drill. Brian believed she had some kind of meeting from her art class to discuss artists and exhibitions.

_He's so easy._

Getting onto the passenger's seat of the Mirage, Mouse started the car.

"Yad shit?"Her friend asked.

"Yeah, boy, big shit. Lae",she answered while nodding.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The last real chapter! Finally!

If anybody wonders what Lilly and Mouse were talking:

_Yad _– You had

_Lae_ – Later – 'I'll tell you later'

A happy new year!!!!


	20. Epilogue

Epilogue

The bell rang.

The doors of the different class rooms opened and pupils filled the halls of Miami Jefferson Highschool. Amongst them was Lilly O'Conner.

Not Lilly Masterson, but Lilly O'Conner.

It was Friday and the last day of school before summer vacation would start.

All pupils were eager to return their books, receive and compare or hide their reports, and to get their year books signed by the others.

Many things had changed since Brian and Roman had a week and a half ago helped to arrest Carter Verone.

One day after all of this had happened, Brian has shown up at MJ High to talk with the principal. The siblings had come up with a story that was not even that far away from the actual truth.

They had said that, back in L.A., Brian had worked as a cop, yet, after having done a job, they had had to hide from the ones he had taken down, therefore, they had gotten a new identity here in Miami.

Lilly's record had already been changed and on her report and underneath her picture in the year book stood her real name. Lilliana O'Conner. Whenever she looked at it, she had to smile. No more hiding, just like Brian had pomised her.

Of course, the entire incidence had caused a spreat fire all over school, thus the girl's popularity had been upped a little……………although she thought that this was only because of Brian. She knew what kind of effect her brother had on women, especially on teenage girls. The blonde did not like it all that much, her friends having a crush on her older brother was somehow embarrassing.

"Hey, girl, come over here!"Lilly heard somebody shout as she stepped outside the building where tables and banks were standing for the pupils to dine at.

The voice belonged to a black senior called Shonna Fergis, the captain of the volleyball team and a good friend of Lilly's.

Shonna was sitting together with several other members of the volleyball, the football and the basketball team and of the cheerleaders at the table. The blonde knew all of them more or less, having talked to them at parties or during the breaks before.

She sat down between Shonna and Alysson, the first one she had talked to when having been new at MJ High.

------Flashback--------

Lilly sat down on the chair the teacher had pointed at. Everybody was staring at her, at 'the new girl from L.A.'. Behind the blonde, there was another girl with hazelnut coloured hair and gray eyes smiling at her.

"Hi, I'm Alysson",she whispered because of the teacher having started to write something down on the blackboard, "you like it so far?"

"Yeah, thank you, just a little nervous",Lilly responded, "I'm Lilly."

"Don't worry, I'll show you around later on. The people are all okay, with a few exceptions, of course",her face changed into a pained expression, "you any good at mathematics?"

"Guys plus shopping equals not very entertaining."

They giggled silently.

"I already like you",Alysson stated.

------End of Flashback--------

"Gimme your book",Alysson said once the blonde had taken place.

While getting the black book out of her bag together with a bottle of Pepsi, Lilly looked around, frowning.

"Lissa not here, yet? So much for being punctual." She handed the book to Alysson. "Don't write anything on the last page. Lissa demanded to have it all on her own."

Lissa, Melissa Anders, was Mike Anders older sister. She was a senior and would go to Yale in autumn. She was also captain of the cheerleaders and the president of Miami Jefferson Highschool. Melissa was, no doubt, the most popular girl at school, always dressed up to a T, her outfit matching each possible occasion. Lilly had made her connection three days after her first day at the new school.

------Flashback--------

Alysson secretly liked Mike and when she walked up to him to ask him if he wanted to go to a dance with her, he made fun of her in front of everybody.

The hurt girl ran with tears in her eyes into the girls' room while Lilly took care of Mike and told him her opinion about him before following Alysson.

In the bathroom, the blonde tried to make her new friend realize that Mike was not worth it, yet, Alysson only said that she wanted him to respect her and, in that situation, Lilly could not think of anything else to advice her friend but this.

"Listen, this might sound harsh but how can you expect him to respect you, if you don't respect yourself. I mean, look at what you let him do to you. You have to stand above those things, Alysson, don't let yourself be pushed around. You gotta ignore such jerks that don't see what great a person you are, that's how you make people respect you."

Suddenly, a voice spoke up behind Lilly.

"She's right." It was Melissa. Finally, Alysson stopped the crying and sobbing so that Melissa could help her fixing her make up and then turned to Lilly, sticking out her hand."Hi, my name's Melissa. Do you already know with whom you're gonna have lunch today?" So Lilly ended up at Melissa's table, where she got to know a few more cheerleaders, a few members of the football and the baseball team and she had already known the people from the volleyball team.

------End of Flashback--------

"Na",Daniela, a junior cheerleader, did a motion with her hand, "you know Lissa. Fashionably late."

The entire group at the table laughed.

"I got a party tonight, you comin'?"Roman, a senior member of the football team, sitting opposite to her, asked.

"Sure",Lilly shrugged. Ever since the whole 'Verone-incident' had been over, the girl had not gone to the races, yet, feeling uncomfortable around the cars. They made her remember the conclusions she had drawn at Verone's, that cars were like a drug and she was nothing but an addict.

"There",Alysson said, giving the girl a year book, "you gotta sign it for me, or better yet, can you sketch something for me, like, one of these cartoon sketches you always do in the lessons?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, I'm _always_ paying attention",she rolled her eyes innocently, gaining a laugh from the others and their year books to sign them as well. So Lilly took out a black ball point pen to begin with the signing while her year book was going around the table.

Mouse had been the first one to sign hers.

They had exchanged their books to sign them simultaneously. Both of them had flipped them open to where their pictures were and had signed right onto them. Mouse had written "Great time", Lilly "Burns, baby".

Finally, Melissa Anders together with her boyfriend Victor "Vic" Samos arrived at the table, greeting everybody.

"My brother is such a moron!"The brunette exclaimed. "I just saw him in the hall, spitting into one of his _friend's_ year book, saying that his _signature_ would need some time to dry! How can I honestly be related to somebody _that stupid_?! Well, at least he managed to do 10th grade on his second try."

When Lilly had received this information for the first time, she had not really been surprised. Mike Anders had had to repeat 10th grade. So he was seventeen now, therefore, he felt way more important than the other sophomores, yet, he did actually not have people considered _true friends_. The blonde had experienced that the others were merely tolerating him when necessary, except for the few that thought by admiring Mike, they would gain popularity due to him being the captain of the football team. Originally, Vic, Melissa's boyfriend, had been the captain, however, after having had an accident over Christmas last year, he had had to stop playing. Mike's father, being rich and good friends with the principal, had talked the other man into taking his son for the position. His marks would have gotten better over the last semester, he had enthusiasm and team spirit…………….eventually, he had become the captain, although Vic had suggested Mouse for the next captain, him being also seventeen, having great marks and being a great wide receiver. Nonetheless, Mouse had turned this offer down. He had not like the thought of so much responsibility on his shoulders………………….not that Mike was any better.

"Here, sign it",Melissa gave Lilly her year book, "write what perfect a person I am and how much I have impressed you."

"Yes, Lissa",the blonde had just finished signing the last of the other books and was now searching for some free space within the brunette's one. Finally, she found a page that was only covered in lyrics to a quarter.

Doing a comic sketch of herself wearing a cheerleader outfit, Lilly wrote next to it: "Gimme an M, gimme an E, gimme an L…………..and so on, you know the procedure, don't you? Dear Melissa, I want to thank you for the many times you reminded me that not all cheerleaders are the stereotypes they always show in the movies. You are not some stupid spoilt girl, running to her Daddy to buy her everything. You respect yourself. You never give up. You don't date a guy only to gain popularity. You are intelligent and you always manage to look perfect. Thank you also for reminding me that good looks do not always equal superficialty – strange word. You accepted me the way I was, although the entire time complaining that I should join the cheerleaders and make more out of myself. I guess this is your way to show how much you actually care and I want to thank you for that care……………even if it was very annoying at times. Che sera, sera, whatever will be, will be. I wish you all the best for your future at Yale and hope that we'll stay in contact, even when you meet lots of new people at college. Lilly.

P.S.: where did you get that dark green shirt with the white seam? I like it."

She returned the book to Melissa immediatley reading what the blonde had written. A warm smile was tugging at the corners of her mouth after severl seconds.

"You're welcome",she answered, looking at Lilly, "where's yours? Hope the last page is still free, isn't it?"

"Just coming round",Vic told her while signing, then, giving it to his girlfriend.

"You're not to read it until the day of Au revoir",Melissa adviced the girl.

"If you say so." Au revoir was a special tradition at Miami Jefferson High. The first week of the vacation period was homecoming week. All the alumnis would come to play against this year's teams and at the end of the week, there would be a dance. Everybody having been at Au revoir, a dance at the last weekend in the holidays, would be at the Homecoming dance. Au revoir was special in many ways. One had to be invited to get in. The invitations were given out by the seniors, they decided who would be there and who would be left outside. It was called Au revoir because it was the last chance for practically an entire year to spend an evening together, before all of the seniors would leave for college. Lilly had received her invitation from Melissa, with the demand "wear a dress".

Soon after having gotten her book back and some more talk, the bell rang again.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Literally each pupil's eyes were focused on the clock hanging above the door. Everybody was awaiting the hand to move up to the twelve. Four more minutes and they would be free for three months.

Actually, the class was supposed to be watching a movie about the mass media, but no one was really interested in it, the clock was way more entertaining.

Suddenly, Lilly felt Mouse, who was sitting behind her, kicking lightly against one of the legs of her chair…………….their sign, if one of them wanted to give the other one a message written on a little piece of paper.

Lilly reached back with her left hand that was no longer taped and almost completely healed by now. Feeling the paper in her hand, she closed her fingers around it, bringing it slowly onto her table, where she opened it.

_Drill after?_

Taking the pencil into her right hand, hoping that it would not scratch too loud on the paper, she wrote: _Deal_ and returned the paper to Mouse the way she had gotten it.

The bell rang!

Everybody was jumping up on their seats, papers and pens were flying through the room.

Holidays!

No school for three months!

It was the last Friday on May, so the vacation would start on June 1st.

Lilly would have to work at Tej's, but she did not mind at all. Tej's and the guys' conception of work was very open-minded, so she did not fear having to work the entire time.

Together with Mouse, the blonde left the class room, only to see people in the hall celebrating, too.

"Up o dere?"The boy next to her asked.

"Dere, I've see",she shrugged while they were leaving the school building. Many people were already outside, looking at something standing right on the street in front of the main entrance: Brian, who had gotten his hair cut a few milimetres short a week ago, leaning against the side of the Evo that was now his. The Customs had given the cars to Roman and him, having claimed that they had no longer any use for them. Of course, the GPS had already been built out.

"No Drill, man",Lilly told her friend, "he planning me. Sor."

"Righ'",he responded, "Phoenix mo nigh'?"

"Finite",the blonde nodded,"sa."

She walked over to where her brother was standing, thinking that it was somehow embarrassing to get picked up like that, therefore, she merely said "hi" to Brian while getting onto the passenger's seat.

Her brother also got in, frowning.

"You don't wanna drive?"He had imagined it to be quite impressive on his sister's school mates, if she had driven the Evo away.

"No."

"So",the man breathed out, "how's the report, _junior_?"

"I ain't gonna show you, if you keep on calling me that",Lilly warned him, receiving a chuckle.

"C'mon, let me enjoy this."

"Whatever."

Brian suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. Ever since the 'Verone-incidence' had been over, 'whatever' seemed to be his sister's new favourite word.

"Hey, is that Shane in front of us?"He questioned, nodding his head into the direction he was talking about.

"Yeah, driving to Tej's to get _Mika_ done",the girl sighed in frustration. Shane's birthday way in June, therefore, he would turn seventeen in less then three weeks. Due to this date being very close to the last day of school, his parents always made the presents depending on his reports. So, last year, his average had been C, the reason he had not gotten a car on his sixteenth birthday. Now, after Lilly having worked her ass off to help her friend, his average was B. Even though his birthday was still three weaks ahead, he was already allowed to drive around with his car: a second hand Honda S2000.

Lilly was actually quite happy for her friend, yet, after having had to listen to Shane three times telling her what he wanted to be done on _Mika_, she was pretty much annoyed by it.

"_Mika_?"The blonde man laughed. "Oh, well, it's his first car, that's always special. What does he want to be done, anyways?"

"Well, of course, he wants it to be a racer, so we'll go routine on it",the girl shrugged, "NOS system, pimped engine, racing seats, new chrome exhaust with built-in flame thrower, new racer tires 'n chrome rims, new paint job, some changes on the body kit, so, a new front and rear bumper, another rear spoiler, some side skirts, a nice drop to make it a real low-rider, but,"she shook her head no, "in my opinion, he's overdoing it when it comes down to extras. I mean…………I can understand neons and a new dash and if you want to, like, one or two specials nobody else's got, yet, _he _is gone nuts. He wants neons everywhere, two fifteen and two ten inch woofers in his trunk, two amps, and, a twenty-five inch TV. But that's not everything. Crash also wants five inch monitors in his visors, two monitors in his dash, one for the NOS and the other for watching DVDs with the DVD player he wants, next to the three disc CD and mp3 player. I stopped listening when he mentioned a PS2 or an Xbox, I dunno………….that's insane. It's nothing but unnecessary weight in a racer!"

"C'mon",Brian was still laughing, this time because of his sibling's pragmatism, though, "he's seventeen. He just wants something to impress girls with."

"What's that look supposed to mean?"Lilly folded her arms in front of her chest, eying her brother suspiciously.

"What look?"He asked while shifting into another gear.

"The look you've just sent my way when you mentioned Shane wanting to impress girls."

"I did _not_ look at you. _I_ concentrated on the road."

"Since when are there any traffic signs on me, then? So why did you look at me like that?"

"I did. Not. Look at you!"

"Did too!"The girl felt herself getting furious. The moment Brian had looked at her, his eyes had clearly said 'he just wants something to impress _you_', not girls in general. Why was he denying it now?

"Did not!"Brian hated his sister's stubborness, on top of that, she was also on her period, so she was very _agitated_, too.

"Did too!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Argh",the man ran a hand over his short hair. He could have sworn that he would have pulled out some of it, if it had still been long enough! He had _not_ _looked_ at her!

"Just shut up and let me drive. I don't wanna cause any accidents because of you distracting me",so, this was it for Brian. The big brother had spoken!

Lilly merely turned her head to the right side, regarding the sidewalk.

"Whatever."

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

If you wonder what Mouse and Lilly are saying:

_Drill after?_ – Drill this afternoon?

_Up o dere?_ – Shall I pick you up or are you there?

_He planning me. Sor._ – He's planning something for me. I'm sorry.

_Righ'. Phoenix mo nigh'?_ – It's alright. The Phoenix tomorrow night?

_Finite. Sa._ – Definitely. See ya.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters of The Fast and the Furious or 2 Fast 2 Furious. I do also not own the storylines of the movies. Nevertheless, this story is mine, the idea belongs to me. Characters that belong to me are: Lilliana/Lilly O'Conner, Shane/Crash, Mike Anders, Alexander/Alex Praca, Diego Hernandez, Marco Merisi, Thomas, Will, Raymond/Spike, Nicolas/Nico, Jenyza/Sugar, Julian/Mouse, Anthony/Tony, Marisa/Risa, Claire/Lola, Verena/V, Nathalie Rigot, Melissa/Lissa Anders, Victor/Vic Samos, Shonna Fergis, Alysson, 'Cathy' and Mona.

**If any of you have ever wondered: the story is set in 2003, so a short time before 2 Fast 2 Furious was released in the U.S..**

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I'M DONE!!!! YEAH!! AN ENTIRE YEAR!!! I'M DONE!!!!AHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

I wanna say THANKS to everybody supporting me during this year, I know I was horrible!!! I let you wait so long!!! I hope you think the waiting was worth it!!!

Special THANKS to all the ones of you having written a review!!! They always made me smile!!!

I'M DONE!!!

ESPECIALLY KATE! You're always so great and supported me with all of your e-mails and helped me to develop new ideas! I love you! You're great!

I LOVE Y'ALL!!!

Ahhh, I'm happy that this is finally done…………………………….although………………………..

This epilogue might be the prologue of a new story. What you thinking? Shall I give it another try? You wanna know what happens during Lilly's vacation period? Or are you pissed at me for having made you guys wait so long? I could understand it, if you were. I'd be mad.

So, merry christmas and a happy new year to all of you.

Thanks for spending precious time of your life on reading my story.

Thank you.

PS: one last question: how do you imagine Lilly to sound or to talk like? I always wondered what her voice would be like………..

It's over, now.

Bye,

djaly


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